Typed Letter of Influential Black New York publisher (C.W. Powell) warns, during World War II, of the "danger" that was facing Blacks at that point in time.
1944. · New York:
by Powell, C.B.
Typed Letter Signed (with secretarial signature) as Editor, New York Amsterdam News. (Harlem) New York, Sept. 8, 1944. 1pg. Some aging and browning; otherwise very good. Predicting the dawn of the Civil Rights era, Dr. C.B.Powell was the most nationally-influential Black newspaper publisher of his day. His weekly paper ran columns by W.E.B.DuBois, Harlem Congressman Adam Clayton Powell (no relation), and the NAACP's Roy Wilkins, and was the first to recognize and publish Malcolm X. The Amsterdam News is the oldest African American Newspaper in the United States. The Black Past website reports "Clilan (C.B.) Powell, longtime owner of the Amsterdam News, was born in 1894 to former Virginia slaves." In addition to promoting some of the major Black authors of his time, he was even appointed a New York boxing commissioner by Governor Thomas Dewey. Responding to a US Navy Ensign's letter, agreeing that "to some people, relief, dole, and gratuity is more acceptable than work, industry and citizenship." Looking backward "materially, I believe Negroes have made more progress than in previous years. accomplished because of the trend of the time" and to the future the Negro, as a first-class citizen enjoying his rights which the constitution guarantees him, is in more danger today than in any time in the history to date." (Inventory #: 106403)