Charles W. Chesnutt to Walter White, 11 March 1931
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March 11, 1931
Mr. Walter White,
Acting Secretary N.A.A.C.P.,1
69 Fifth Avenue,
New York City.
My dear Walter:
I beg to acknowledge the honor of your invitation to be present March 22nd, at the presentation of the Spingarn Medal2 to Mr. Harrison.3
I regret to say that I was pretty nearly knocked out by the financial slump of 1929-30, and am merely hanging on by my eye-lashes to see if I can possibly save something from the wreck.4 Under the circumstances, it would be impossible for me to come New York on the date mentioned, much as I would like to be there.
I see from the press that Mr. Johnson has resigned his secretaryship and is to become connected with the faculty of Fisk University.5 I have no doubt he will make good in his new connection. Although sorry to see him leave the N.A.A.C.P., I have no doubt that you will carry on the work with your usual efficiency.
Thanking you for your courtesy and hoping that you will have a large and successful attendance at the presentation meeting, I remain with sincerest regards.
Cordially yours, CWC:MKCorrespondent: Walter Francis White (1893–1955) was a Black civil rights activist and writer. He began working at the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) in 1918, at its New York City headquarters, as assistant to James Weldon Johnson, the Association's first Black Executive Secretary. He investigated lynchings and riots, sometimes passing for White, and he became Executive Secretary in 1930. He helped desegregate the armed forces after WWII, and under his leadership the NAACP established its Legal Defense Fund. He nominally remained executive secretary until his death in 1955.
1. The National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) began in February 1909, with a Committee on the Negro and "The Call," a statement protesting lawlessness against Black people. In 1910, the organization adopted its current name and in 1912 began publication of a monthly journal, The Crisis, which was edited by W. E. B. Du Bois from 1912 to 1944. Chesnutt's involvement with the NAACP extended over many years, and included serving on its General Committee, attending conferences, presiding at NAACP events in Cleveland, publishing four stories and two essays in The Crisis (1912, 1915, 1924, 1926, 1930, and 1931), and being awarded in 1928 the organization's highest honor, the Spingarn Medal. [back]
2. 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]
3. Richard Berry Harrison (1864–1935) was a dramatic reader and actor. In the 1890s he traveled the U.S. with a repertoire that included the poetry of Paul Laurence Dunbar. In 1930 he gained further fame for the role of the Lord in Marc Connelly's Pulitzer-prize winning play The Green Pastures. The play ran for sixteen months on Broadway, and in more than 200 cities on tour. He received the Spingarn Medal in 1930. [back]
4. Between the initial Wall Street crash in late 1929 and the mid-1931 banking crises, most U.S. stocks lost ninety percent or more of their value, with effects that cascaded throughout the economy. Chesnutt, who had invested in the stock market and used these investments as collateral for his mortgages, was severely affected by the crash and discussed its effects in many letters between 1930 and 1932. [back]
5. James Weldon Johnson (1871–1938) was a Black author and political activist. He was Executivie Secretary of the NAACP (1920–1930). On December 17, 1930, he resigned as Secretary of the NAACP to accept the Adam K. Spence Chair of Creative Literature and Writing at Fisk University. [back]
