Walter F. White to Charles W. Chesnutt, 6 September 1930
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NATIONAL ASSOCIATION FOR THE ADVANCEMENT OF COLORED PEOPLE
69 FIFTH AVENUE, NEW YORK
(AT FOURTEENTH STREET)
TELEPHONE: ALGONQUIN 65481
September 6, 1930
My dear Mr. Chestnutt
You perhaps have already heard that the N.A.A.C.P.2 is planning an intensive campaign of legal action and education of public opinion to secure and protect the Negro's constitutional rights. This campaign is to be preceded by careful, thorough and authoritative studies by qualified experts of the legal, economic and factual background of each situation.3
It is contemplated that the first point to be taken up is that of the unequal apportionment of public school funds by certain states, such funds including not only state funds, but federal appropriations to the various states for education.4 The succeeding steps are to be determined by the exigencies of the situation.
It is hoped that with the money which has been made available we shall be able to go extensively into the various fields in which the Negro now is denied, in whole or in part, his constitutional rights as a citizen.
In the mattter of public school funds, it is our proposal to institute suits simultaneously in a number of states.5 It is hoped that by this means not only will tangible progress be made but that public attention may be focused upon this important subject.
We should be most grateful to you for any comments or suggestions on this program which you may care to make.
Sincerely yours, Walter White Acting Secretary Mr. Charles W. Chestnutt Union Trust Building Cleveland, Ohio WW/ID ENDORSED BY THE NATIONAL INFORMATION BUREAU, 215 FOURTH AVENUE, NEW YORK.Correspondent: 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. For readability, the remainder of the letterhead is not transcribed in the body of the letter but is included in this footnote as unformatted text. The letterhead can be seen in its entirety in the accompanying image of the letter. The text of the remainder of the letterhead is as follows: "NATIONAL OFFICERS PRESIDENT MOORFIELD STOREY VICE-PRESIDENTS REV. JOHN HAYNES HOLMES JOHN A. GREGG BISHOP JOHN HURST ARTHUR B. SPINGARN OSWALD GARRISON VILLARD TREASURER J. E. SPINGARN EXECUTIVE OFFICERS JAMES WELDON JOHNSON SECRETARY [on leave] WALTER WHITE ACTING SECRETARY DR. W. E. B. DUBOIS EDITOR OF THE CRISIS ROBERT W. BAGNALL DIRECTOR OF BRANCHES WILLIAM PICKENS FIELD SECRETARY DAISY E. LAMPKIN REGIONAL FIELD SECRETARY HERBERT J. SELIGMANN DIRECTOR OF PUBLICITY BOARD OF DIRECTORS Chairman MARY WHITE OVINGTON New York Baltimore Bishop John Hurst Boston Joseph Prince Loud Charleston, W. Va. T. G. Nutter Chicago Jane Addams Clarence Darrow Cleveland Hon. Harry E. Davis Detroit Hon. Ira W. Jayne Indianapolis F. B. Ransom Los Angeles Dr. J. A. Somerville Memphis R. R. Church New Haven George W. Crawford New Orleans George W. Lucas New York Lillian A. Alexander Rev. Hutchens C. Bishop Dr. W. E. B. DuBois Rev. John Haynes Holmes Florence Kelley Hon. Herbert H. Lehman Ella Rush Murray Ella Rush Murray John E. Nail Arthur B. Spingarn J. E. Spingarn Charles H. Studin William English Walling Dr. Louis T. Wright Philadelphia Isadore Martin Richmond Maggie L. Walker Springfield Rev. G. R. Waller Topeka Hon. Arthur Capper Washington Nannie H. Burroughs Hon. James A. Cobb Prof. George William Cook Charles Edward Russell NATIONAL LEGAL COMMITTEE Chairman Arthur B. Spingarn Chicago Clarence Darrow Cambridge, Mass. Felix Frankfurter Charleston, W. Va. T. G. Nutter New York James Marshall Herbert K. Stockton Charles H. Studin ENDORSED BY THE NATIONAL INFORMATION BUREAU. 215 FOURTH AVENUE, NEW YORK [back]
2. 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 began publication of a monthly journal, The Crisis, under editor W. E. B. Du Bois. Chesnutt's involvement with the NAACP extended over many years, and included attending conferences, presiding at NAACP events in Cleveland, publishing four stories and one essay in The Crisis (1912, 1915, 1924, 1926, and 1930), and being awarded in 1928 the organization's highest honor, the Spingarn Medal. [back]
3. The NAACP, in 1930, commissioned attorney Nathan Margold (1899–1947) to produce a plan for a legal campaign against segregation. The resulting Margold Report refuted the doctrine of separate but equal by challenging the inherent inequality of segregation in publicly funded primary and secondary schools. This campaign would set the stage for Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka (1955). [back]
4. Having focused on racial violence since its founding, in 1925 the NAACP turned its attention to educational inequality and secured a grant from The Garland Fund. By 1930, the organization had developed a plan for lawsuits in several states challenging the underfunding of Black schools as a violation of the equal protection clause. [back]
5. Nathan Margold presented his report to the NAACP's Board of Directors in 1931; however, nearly four years passed before the organization could act on Margold's suggestions. In 1934, Charles Hamilton Houston, lawyer and dean of Howard University (1929–1935), modifying the Margold Report, proposed a series of legal tactics, beginning with lawsuits for equal facilities in graduate and professional schools. [back]
