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National Association for the Advacement of Colored People 69 Fifth Avenue New York Telephone Algonquin 4-3551 Official Organ The Crisis [NAACP logo]
National Officers
President J.E. Spingarn
Chairman of the Board Dr. [Doctor] Louis T. Wright
Vice-Presidents Nannie H. Burroughs Godfrey Lowell Cabot Hon. [Honorable] Arthur Capper Bishop John A. Gregg Rev. [Reverend] John Haynes Holmes Manley O. Hudson Hon. [Honorable] Ira W. Jayne Rev. [Reverend] A. Clayton Powell Arthur B. Spingarn Oswald Garrison Villard
Treasurer Mary White Ovington
Board of Directors Amenia N.Y. [New York] J.E. Spingarn Atlanta Eugene M. Martin Baltimore Carl Murphy Birmingham Ala. [Alabama] Dr. [Doctor] E.W. Taggart Boston Mass. [Massachusetts] Alfred Baker Lewis Charleston W. Va. [West Virginia] T.C. Nutter Chicago Prof. [Professor] Paul H. Douglas Cleveland Hon. [Honorable] Harry E. Davis L. Pearl Mitchell Detroit Louis C. Blount Emporia Kans. [Kansas] William Allen White Nashville Tenn. [Tennessee] Dr. [Doctor] N.C. McPherson Newark N.J. [New Jersey] Grace B. Fenderson New York Lillian A. Alexander Dr. [Doctor] Allan Knight Chalmers Dr. [Doctor] Walter Gray Crump Marion Cuthbert Hubert T. Delany Rachel Davis Du Bois Douglas P. Falconer Lewis S. Gannett Rev. [Reverend] John Haynes Holmes Dr. [Doctor] William Lloyd Imes Dr. [Doctor] John H. Johnson Hon. [Honorable] Herbert H. Lehmann Hon. [Honorable] Caroline O Day Mary White Ovington Hon. [Honorable] Charles Poletti Rev. [Reverend] James H. Robinson Col. [Colonel] Theodore Roosevelt Arthur B. Spingarn Charles H. Studin Hon. [Honorable] Charles E. Toney Frances Harriet Williams Dr. [Doctor] Louis T. Wright Northampton Mass. [Massachusetts] Dr. [Doctor] William Allan Neilson Oklahoma City Roscoe Dunjee Philadelphia Isadore Martin Richmond Va. [Virginia] Dr. [Doctor] W.L. Ransome St. [Saint] Louis Sidney R. Redmond Talladega Ala. [Alabama] Rev. [Reverend] Joseph W. Nicholson Topeka Kans. [Kansas] Hon. [Honorable] Arthur Capper Washington Hon. [Honorable] William H. Hastle Hon. [Honorable] Frank Murphy Charles Edward Russell Dr. [Doctor] Charles H. Thompson Dr. [Doctor] Elizabeth Yates Webb
National Legal Committee Arthur B. Spingarn New York Chairman Atlanta A.T. Walden Berkely Calif. [California] Walter A. Gordon Boston Irwin T. Dorch Cambridge Mass. [Massachusetts] Hon. [Honorable] Felix Frankfurter Charleston W. Va. [West Virginia] T.G. Nutter Chicago Irvin C. Mollison Edward H. Morris Erie Pa. [Pennsylvania] William F. Illig Jacksonville S.D. McGill Los Angeles Thomas L. Griffith Jr. [Junior] Louisville Charles W. Anderson Madision Wis. [Wisconsin] Lloyd Garrison Muskogee Okla. [Oklahoma] Charles A. Chandler Nashville Tenn. [Tennessee] Z. Alexander Looby New York Hubert T. Delany Morris L. Ernst Arthur Garfield Hays Benjamin Kaplan Kari N. Llewellyn James Marshall Charles H. Studin Philadelphia Francis Biddle Pittsburgh Homer S. Brown Toldeo Ohio Jesse S. Heslip William T. McKnight Washington Charles H. Houston Edward P. Lovett Leon A. Ransom Wilmington Del. [Delaware] Louis L. Redding
Executive Officers
Walter White Secretary Roy Wilkins Assistant Secretary Editor The Crisis Charles H. Houston Special Counsel Thurgood Marshall Assistant Special Counsel William Pickens Director of Branches Daisy E. Lampkin Field Secretary E. Frederic Morrow Branch Coordinator George B. Murphy Jr. [Junior] Publicity and Promotion
January 21 1939
Dear Marian
My warm thanks for your lovely telegram. Certainly no person was more deserving of the Spingarn Medal than this years medallist.
Your wire was relayed to me just as Dr. [Doctor] Elizabeth Yates Webb of our Board and I were on our way to the White House to talk with Mrs. Roosevelt. Mrs. Roosevelt was delighted to hear that you had been selected. She said she is honored to present the medal to you.
You will be sent detail later on but in order that you may know the hour it will be at 300 [3 o clock] P.M. Sunday July 2 at the Mosque Auditorium Richmond Virginia. We shall arrange for an overflow meeting which we know will be necessary with yourself and Mrs. Roosevelt on the same program. And we shall also attempt to have the program broadcast.
I have just returned from Washington this morning where Mary Johson of TIME is very active in the matter of the Daughters of the American Revolution refusing to rent Constitution Hall for your April 9th concert. Miss Johnson and I worked out a plan which is already bearing results. We sent a telegram last Thursday to the following artists
Lawrence Tibbett Kirsten Flagsted Giovanni Martinelli Sigrid Onegin Lily Pons Leopold Stokowski Elizabeth Rethberg Arturi Toscanini Nelson Eddy Walter Damrosch Geraldine Farrar Jose Iturbi
The telegram read
[quote] Marian Anderson has been denied use of Constitution Hall in Washington D.C. by Daughters of the American Revolution account clause limiting Hall to white artists only. National Association for Advacement Colored People invites expression your opinion on this ban by telegraph collect. [end quote]
Endorsed by the National Information Bureau 215 Fourth Avenue New York 30th Annual Conference Richmond Virginia June 27th - July 2nd 1939
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Miss Marian Anderson - 2
Already replies are coming in. I enclose copies of wires from Geraldine Farrar and Lawrence Tibbett.
With cordial greetings Ever sincerely Walter Secretary
Miss Marian Anderson C/-Colin Tait Eaton Auditorium Toronto Ontario Canada
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