Walter White to Charles Chesnutt, 27 March 1931
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NATIONAL ASSOCIATION FOR THE ADVANCEMENT OF COLORED PEOPLE
69 FIFTH AVENUE, NEW YORK
(AT FOURTEENTH STREET)
TELEPHONE: ALGONQUIN 4-65481
March 27th 1931
My dear Mr. Chesnutt:
I regret to say that I haven't yet seen your article in the current issue of the Colophon. There are two reasons for this omission. The first is that since Mrs. White2 and I returned from Haiti there has been so much work piled up here at the office which accumulated during my absence and so many speaking engagements that I had to fill that I am far behind in reading.3 The second reason is that the Colophon is so expensive that I cannot afford to subscribe to it. I am however, making an effort to buy a single issue and that issue, of course, is the one containing your article.
The presentation of the Spingarn Medal4 to Mr. Harrison5 last Sunday night is said to be the best presentation ceremony we have ever yet held. I am most sorry that Mrs. Chesnutt6 was not able to be present, but I can understand the dilemma in which she was, choosing between the presentation ceremony and the Robeson7 recital.
I do hope I shall be able to live up to all the nice things you say about my work. It is a tough assignment but I am delighted it has come to me.
With most cordial greetings to you, Mrs. Chesnutt and the other member of the family, I am
Ever sincerely, Walter Secretary. Mr. Charles W. Chesnutt 9719 Lamont Avenue Cleveland, Ohio WW:CTF ENDORSED BY THE NATIONAL INFORMATION BUREAU. 215 FOURTH AVENUE, NEW YORK TWENTY-SECOND ANNUAL CONFERENCE — Pittsburgh Pa. — June 30 - July 5, 1931Correspondent: 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 at the top 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 J. E. SPINGARN VICE-PRESIDENTS HON. ARTHUR CAPPER BISHOP JOHN A. GREGG REV. JOHN HAYNES HOLMES JAMES WELDON JOHNSON ARTHUR B. SPINGARN OSWALD GARRISON VILLARD EXECUTIVE OFFICERS 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 Carl Murphy 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 Hon. Frank Murphy Indianapolis F. B. Ransom Los Angeles Dr. H. Claude Hudson Memphis R. R. Church New Haven George W. Crawford New Orleans Dr. George W. Lucas New York Lillian A. Alexander Rev. Hutchens C. Bishop Dr. W. E. B. DuBois Rev. John Haynes Holmes James Weldon Johnson Florence Kelley Hon. Herbert H. Lehman Ella Rush Murray John E. Nail Arthur B. Spingarn J. E. Spingarn Charles H. Studin William English Walling Dr. Louis T. Wright Northampton, Mass. Dr. William Allan Neilson 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 WILLIAM T. ANDREWS Special Legal Assistant ENDORSED BY THE NATIONAL INFORMATION BUREAU. 215 FOURTH AVENUE, NEW YORK TWENTY-SECOND ANNUAL CONFERENCE — Pittsburgh Pa. — June 30 - July 5, 1931." [back]
2. Leah Gladys Powell White (1893–1979) was a Black woman raised in Philadelphia who worked as a stenographer for the NAACP in New York City and and married Walter F. White in 1922; a brief stage career faltered in 1926. The couple had two children. Their divorce in 1948 was scandalous because of White's affair (and subsequent marriage) with a White South African writer, Poppy Cannon (1905–1975), which led to him stepping down as leader of the NAACP. [back]
3. The National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP), along with many other Black activistss, opposed the U.S. occupation of Haiti (1915–1934), publicizing failings of U.S. policy and publishing Haitian news, poetry, and books about Haiti in its monthly magazine The Crisis. NAACP Executive Secretary James Weldon Johnson traveled to Haiti in 1920 to investigate conditions, and White’s trip in 1931 was a mix of work and vacation. Chesnutt, a founding member of the NAACP, shared the concerns about the occupation of Haiti. [back]
4. 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]
5. 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]
6. Susan Perry Chesnutt (1861–1940) was from a well-established Black family in Fayetteville, North Carolina, and worked as a teacher at Fayetteville's Howard School before marrying Chesnutt. They were married from 1878 until his death in 1932 and had four children: Ethel, Helen, Edwin, and Dorothy. Susan led an active life in Cleveland. [back]
7. Paul Bustill Robeson (1898–1976) was a bass-baritone concert artist, actor, athlete, and activist, who became famous both for his cultural accomplishments and political stances. During the 1940s, Robeson's Black nationalist and anti-colonialist activities brought him to the attention of Senator Joseph McCarthy, and such political beliefs all but erased him from American popular culture and history. In 1931, when Susan Chesnutt saw him, Robeson was living and performing in London, but he had returned to the U.S. for a tour that began at Carnegie Hall in New York City, with a program of both classical works and folk and gospel songs. [back]
