Charles W. Chesnutt to W. E. B. Du Bois, 11 June 1928
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8/9/38
4573
JUN 13 1928
Chas. W. Chesnutt
9719 Lamont Avenue
Cleveland, Ohio
June 11, 1928
The National Association for the Advancement of Colored People,
69 Fifth Avenue,
New York City.
Attention Dr. W. E. B. Dubois
Gentlemen:
Permit me to thank the Association and the Spingarn Medal Committee of Award,1 for the distinguished honor conferred upon me by my selection as recipient of the Spingarn Medal for this year, and for the kind words accompanying the announcement.
I shall arrange to be in Los Angeles on July 3rd for the formal presentation, and to express my appreciation at greater length.
Cordially yours, Chas. W. ChesnuttCorrespondent: William Edward Burghardt Du Bois (1868–1963) was a sociologist, historian, and world-renowned civil rights activist. After completing coursework at the University of Berlin and Harvard University, Du Bois became the first African American to earn a doctorate from Harvard in 1895. He was a professor of history, sociology, and economics at Atlanta University (1897–1910 and again in the 1930s). He was a prominent leader of the Niagara Movement and helped found the NAACP in 1909. As the editor of the NAACP's journal, The Crisis, from 1910 to 1931, Du Bois published four of Chesnutt's short stories as well as two of his essays. See "The Doll" (April 1912), "Mr. Taylor's Funeral" (April/May 1915), "The Marked Tree" (Dec 1924/Jan 1925), and "Concerning Father" (May 1930); and "Women's Rights" (1915) and "The Negro in Art" (November 1926).
1. The highest honor of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) is the Spingarn Medal, awarded annually since 1915, for the highest achievement of a living African American in the preceding year. Joel Spingarn (1875—1939), a professor of literature and one of the NAACP founders, was elected board chairman of the NAACP in 1915 and served as president from 1929 to 1939. Charles Chesnutt received this award in 1928. [back]
