Papers of the Naacp
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A Guide to the Microfilm Edition of BLACK STUDIES RESEARCH SOURCES Microfilms from Major Archival and Manuscript Collections General Editors: John H. Bracey, Jr., and Sharon Harley PAPERS OF THE NAACP Supplement to Part 16, Board of Directors File, 1966-1970 UNIVERSITY PUBLICATIONS OF AMERICA A Guide to the Microfilm Edition of BLACK STUDIES RESEARCH SOURCES Microfilms from Major Archival and Manuscript Collections General Editors: John H. Bracey, Jr., and Sharon Harley PAPERS OF THE NAACP Supplement to Part 16, Board of Directors File, 1966-1970 Edited by John H. Bracey, Jr., and Sharon Harley Project Coordinator Randolph Boehm Guide compiled by Daniel Lewis A microfilm project of UNIVERSITY PUBLICATIONS OF AMERICA An Imprint of LexisNexis Academic & Library Solutions 4520 East-West Highway * Bethesda, MD 20814-3389 Library of Congress Cataloglng-in-Publication Data Papers of the NAACP. Supplement to Part 16, Board of Directors file, [microform] / edited by John H. Bracey, Jr. and August Meier; project coordinator, Randolph Boehm. microfilm reels ; 35 mm.--(Black studies research sources) Accompanied by printed reel guides. Contents: 1. Supplement to Part 16,1956-1965. 2. Supplement to Part 16,1966-1970. 1. National Association for the Advancement of Colored People--Archives. 2. African Americans--Civil rights--History--20th century--Sources. 3. African Americans--History--1877-1964--Sources. 4. United States--Race relations--Sources. I. Title: Board of Directors file. II. Bracey, John H. III. Meier, August, 1923- IV. Boehm, Randolph. V. National Association for the Advancement of Colored People. VI. University Publications of America (Firm) VII. Title: Guide to the microfilm edition of Papers of the NAACP. Supplement to Part 16, Board of Directors file. VIM. Series. 973'.0496073--dc21 ISBN 1 -55655-877-5 (microfilm: supplement to Part 16, 1966-1970) 97-163811 Copyright © 2002 by Congressional Information Service, Inc. All rights reserved. ISBN 1-55655-877-5. TABLE OF CONTENTS Scope and Content Note v Source Note ix Editorial Note ix Abbreviations xi Reel Index Reel 1 Group IV, Series A, Administrative File Board of Directors File Group IV, Box A-10 Black, Algernon D.-Kaplan, Kivie 1 Group IV, Box A-1.1 Kaplan, Kivie cont.-Legal Staff Resignations 2 Reel 2 Group IV, Series A, Administrative File cont. Board of Directors File cont. Group IV, Box A-11 cont. Legal Staff Resignations 3 Group IV, Box A-12 Legal Staff Resignations cont.-Miller, Loren 4 Reel 3 Group IV, Series A, Administrative File cont. Board of Directors File cont. Group IV, Box A-12 cont. Minutes [of Board of Directors Meetings]-Nominating Committee 5 Group IV, Box A-13 Nominating Committee cont.-Spottswood, Stephen Gill 5 Reel 4 Group IV, Series A, Administrative File cont. Board of Directors File cont. Group IV, Box A-13 cont. Tanner, Jack E.-Weaver, Robert C 6 Group IV, Box A-14 Weaver, Robert C. cont.-Young Turks 6 Group VI, Series A, Administrative File Board of Directors File Group VI, Box A-11 Annual Fellowship Dinner-Committees 6 Group VI, Box A-12 Committees cont 7 Reel 5 Group VI, Series A, Administrative File cont. Board of Directors File cont. Group VI, Box A-12 cont.-Box A-13 Committees cont 8 Reel 6 Group VI, Series A, Administrative File cont. Board of Directors File cont. Group VI, Box A-13 cont. Committees cont.-Finance Department 9 Group VI, Box A-14 Internal Revenue Service-Meetings 9 Reel 7 Group VI, Series A, Administrative File cont. Board of Directors File cont. Group VI, Box A-15 Members Alexander, Kelly M.-Dickerson, Earl B 10 Group VI, Box A-16 Members cont. Flemmings, George D.-Gallagher, Buell 11 Reel 8 Group VI, Series A, Administrative File cont. Board of Directors File cont. Group VI, Box A-16 cont. Members cont. Greene, Harry J.-Kaplan, Kivie 11 Group VI, Box A-17 Members cont. Kaplan, Kivie cont.-Law, Westley W 12 Reel 9 Group VI, Series A, Administrative File cont. Board of Directors File cont. Group VI, Box A-17 cont. Members cont. Lewis, Alfred Baker-Roberts, Evelyn H 12 Group VI, Box A-18 Members cont. Smith, Irene--Woodcock, Leonard 13 NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund-Robson, E. S 14 Group VI, Box A-19 Treasurer's Report--Vice-Presidents [of NAACP] 14 Principal Correspondents Index 15 Subject Index 23 SCOPE AND CONTENT NOTE This supplement to Part 16 of Papers of the NAACP contains the background correspondence and committee files of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) board of directors for the period from 1966 to 1970. These files contain materials on internal NAACP issues'and on some of the most important developments facing the NAACP in this period, including the emergence of the Black Power movement, school desegregation efforts, the enactment of additional civil rights legislation, the War on Poverty, and the Vietnam War. The documents in this supplement come from two different groups of the NAACP Records collection at the Library of Congress: Group IV (1965-1975) and Group VI (1884-1992). These records were received by the Library of Congress in two different accessions; however, they have been microfilmed together by the University Publications of America (UPA) in order to present the complete files of the board of directors for the period from 1966 to 1970. The files from Group IV begin at Frame 0001 of Reel 1 and continue through to Frame 0284 of Reel 4. The files from Group VI begin at Frame 0285 of Reel 4 and continue through to the end of this edition on Reel 9. Within each group, the files are arranged alphabetically and consist of three types of materials: correspondence files of individual board members, board of directors committee files, and subject files. The correspondence files of individual board members in this edition vary in terms of the amount of documentation and the range of subjects covered. One of the largest files in this supplement is that of Kivie Kaplan. In January 1966, Kaplan, a wealthy Boston businessman and an NAACP member since 1932, was elected president of the NAACP. The "Kaplan, Kivie" files, beginning at Frame 0157 of Reel 1, contain newspaper clippings and correspondence pertaining to his election. Some of the editorial commentary and correspondence on his election was highly critical of the NAACP for selecting a white man as president. Kaplan was only the fourth president of the NAACP since its founding in 1909, and his three predecessors were also white. The "Kaplan, Kivie" files also contain documents on other issues. There are several items concerning relations between African Americans and Jews. A second group of Kivie Kaplan files can be found beginning at Frame 0224 of Reel 8. Correspondence in these files primarily discusses NAACP memberships, a constant concern of the NAACP because it was through membership dues that the association financed much of its legal program and paid the salaries of its staff members. The files of Alfred Baker Lewis (Reel 2, Frames 0599-0861) contain Lewis's frank comments on several key issues facing the NAACP after 1965. In an October 1966 letter to NAACP Assistant Executive Director John A. Morsell, Lewis discussed the Freedom Budget, a proposal made by labor leader A. Philip Randolph to eliminate poverty within the United States by 1975. Lewis wrote that he thought it was important to stress that the Freedom Budget would also help poor whites. He argued that such an emphasis would improve the chances of passing parts of the budget in Congress. In a December 1967 letter to Vice President Hubert Humphrey, Lewis expressed his concerns about the Vietnam War. Other topics covered in Lewis's correspondence include civil rights legislation, the murder of civil rights workers in the South, and urban riots. In the Group VI materials concerning Lewis (Reel 9, Frame 0001), topics covered include black studies programs, health insurance, public welfare programs, and Lewis's concerns about the civil rights policies of President Richard M. Nixon. There are also files on many other NAACP board members. The files of Stephen Gill Spottswood (Reel 9, Frames 0424-0597), NAACP chairman of the board, contain public reaction to his speech at the 1970 NAACP national convention, in which he characterized the Nixon administration as "anti-Negro." (The full text of Spottswood's speech, along with additional reactions to the speech, can be found in UPA's Papers of the NAACP, Supplement to Part 1, 1966-1970, Reel 12, Frame 0338.) The A. Philip Randolph file (Reel 3, Frame 0774) contains statements by Randolph, Walter Reuther, Bayard Rustin, Donald Slaiman, and Theodore M. Kheel on the Freedom Budget. The Robert C. Weaver files contain a statement by Weaver on the 1966 civil rights bill (Reel 4, Frame 0015). The Kelly Alexander file (Reel 7, Frame 0001) contains material on local matters in North Carolina. There is also a December 1967 letter from Alexander to NAACP branch director Gloster B. Current discussing Black Power and also the NAACP's relationship to War on Poverty programs. Other members of the board of directors represented in this supplement include Benjamin E. Mays, Jack E. Tanner, W. Montague Cobb, Buell Gallagher, Lillie M. Jackson, William R. Ming Jr., and William H. Oliver. The committees of the board of directors often addressed administrative matters as well as important matters of NAACP policy. The committee files in this supplement include Administration, Annual Elections, Budget, Campus Action, Conventions, Medgar Evers Trust Fund, Executive, NAACP and NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund Liaison Committee, National Youth Work, Nominating, and Public Relations. Several of the files in the Group VI materials date from earlier than the 1966 to 1970 period represented by the remainder of this edition.