[Collection of NAACP Membership Materials in Arizona and California]
- Mostly Flagstaff, Arizona; also San Francisco , 1967
Mostly Flagstaff, Arizona; also San Francisco, 1967. Very good. 81 items ranging from 2¼" x 3¼" to 6" x 10½": see description for details. Generally very good or better: a few items gently worn and a few like new.
This is a collection of letters, forms, reports and printed ephemera showing the drive of African American residents of Flagstaff, Arizona to increase membership in their local NAACP chapter. A few items also represent the San Francisco NAACP, including a typed letter signed by a noted female leader.
The end days of World War II saw an influx of Black migration to the small logging town of Flagstaff for sawmill and lumber work. Where the 1930 census reported 115 African American residents, that of 1950 claimed 667. The town stayed segregated, with Black and Mexican homes and businesses lying south of the railroad tracks. The Northern Arizona chapter of the NAACP was founded in Flagstaff in 1951 by a group that included Annie Watkins. A former school teacher, Watkins turned to local politics when she saw that Black voters' ballots were being thrown away. She was vice chair of the county Democratic committee and led voter registration drives and education sessions for the Black community.
This small collection shows the growth of the Flagstaff chapter in the 1960s, and includes 56 membership campaign envelopes filled out with names and addresses. There are membership cards, reports, endorsed checks and handwritten notes on officers, members and donations. Autograph and typed signed letters to New York headquarters reveal donations and requests for recruitment material, there's a response on HQ letterhead, and most are in their original envelopes. Notably, one of these envelopes holds pristine printed materials including a photographic brochure and the NAACP Life Membership Bulletin of June 1962, which ran "Civil Rights Round-Up" news, upcoming events and "sales hints." Three items reflect similar work in California, including a TLS on San Francisco chapter letterhead from Acting Regional Secretary Tarea Hall Pittman, asking branches to send in their 1960 reports. Pittman had been president of the California State Association of Colored Women's Clubs and of the California Council of Negro Women, and served as Director of the NAACP West Coast Region from 1961 to 1965.
Vivid documentation of the efforts of African Americans to organize in Arizona and California. An inventory of contents is available.
This is a collection of letters, forms, reports and printed ephemera showing the drive of African American residents of Flagstaff, Arizona to increase membership in their local NAACP chapter. A few items also represent the San Francisco NAACP, including a typed letter signed by a noted female leader.
The end days of World War II saw an influx of Black migration to the small logging town of Flagstaff for sawmill and lumber work. Where the 1930 census reported 115 African American residents, that of 1950 claimed 667. The town stayed segregated, with Black and Mexican homes and businesses lying south of the railroad tracks. The Northern Arizona chapter of the NAACP was founded in Flagstaff in 1951 by a group that included Annie Watkins. A former school teacher, Watkins turned to local politics when she saw that Black voters' ballots were being thrown away. She was vice chair of the county Democratic committee and led voter registration drives and education sessions for the Black community.
This small collection shows the growth of the Flagstaff chapter in the 1960s, and includes 56 membership campaign envelopes filled out with names and addresses. There are membership cards, reports, endorsed checks and handwritten notes on officers, members and donations. Autograph and typed signed letters to New York headquarters reveal donations and requests for recruitment material, there's a response on HQ letterhead, and most are in their original envelopes. Notably, one of these envelopes holds pristine printed materials including a photographic brochure and the NAACP Life Membership Bulletin of June 1962, which ran "Civil Rights Round-Up" news, upcoming events and "sales hints." Three items reflect similar work in California, including a TLS on San Francisco chapter letterhead from Acting Regional Secretary Tarea Hall Pittman, asking branches to send in their 1960 reports. Pittman had been president of the California State Association of Colored Women's Clubs and of the California Council of Negro Women, and served as Director of the NAACP West Coast Region from 1961 to 1965.
Vivid documentation of the efforts of African Americans to organize in Arizona and California. An inventory of contents is available.
Details
Title
[Collection of NAACP Membership Materials in Arizona and California]
Condition
Very Good
Publisher
Mostly Flagstaff, Arizona; also San Francisco
Date
1967