Box 8

Correspondence and other materials is comprised of documentation for Marguerite Cartwright’s professional work as a journalist, educator and activist. The bulk of the material dates from 1950 to 1965 and consists of letters, scrapbooks and ephemeral items related to Cartwright’s activities as a journalist and educator and United Nations correspondent, as well as her travels throughout Africa, Europe and the Middle East.

The correspondence depicts Cartwright’s concerns with racism and discrimination, particularly the depiction of negative stereotypes of African Americans in advertisements and the media. Often these letters call out the racism in publications and print media with examples attached. Additionally, much of the correspondence consists of reader responses to Cartwright’s various published articles and columns, her submissions to publishers, as well as planning for her various travels abroad to the African Gold Coast, Middle East and West Germany. A theme throughout the correspondence is African independence, most specifically the countries of Nigeria and Ghana. Often, Cartwright’s letters reference meetings and networking with various African and Israeli officials visiting New York and the United Nations. Additionally, throughout the correspondence, Cartwright’s work at Hunter College in New York and her views on education are depicted.

Cartwright’s appointments as part of United States and United Nations delegations abroad are well documented throughout the correspondence and scrapbooks. The appointments include her work as a delegate, journalist and observer for the Non-Sectarian Anti-Nazi League, Inc. to attend the Peace Conference at Zagreb, Yugoslavia in 1951; as delegate for the United States Commission for United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) in 1952; and participation as a journalist and observer at the Afro-Asian Conference in Bandung, Indonesia in 1955.

Of note are letters from American labor unionist, civil rights activist and socialist politician A. Philip Randolph, chair of the Committee for the Freedom of William Worthy, regarding the defense of William Worthy, a correspondent for the Baltimore Afro-American newspaper, and the travel restrictions imposed on him after his passport was seized following a trip to China. Also of note is a report dated March 5, 1963 by Robert Kotey, secretary of the Ghana Students’ Union in Bulgaria, regarding the exodus of African students from the country.

Of interest is correspondence from 1949 addressing the United Nations’ indifference to the treatment and atrocities committed against native Africans in South Africa. Additionally, there is a petition to the United Nations Fourth Committee oral hearing on behalf of the native people of the territory of South West Africa, and Reverend Michael Scott, anti-apartheid activist, and the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP)’s fight to keep South Africa from annexing South West Africa (then known as Namibia). Also of interest is a file for letters within the file for the U.S. State Department from Howland H. Sargent, deputy assistant secretary of the State of Public Affairs, addressing issues of discrimination within the Foreign Service.

Cartwright’s scrapbooks are a rich source of correspondence, with ephemera and news clippings documenting her speaking engagements, responses to her published writings, and her engagements as a lecturer. The scrapbooks often touch on Cartwright’s concern for the lack of African-American influence and history within educational curricula within the United States, as well as depictions of Africa, colonialism and native Africans. Cartwright’s appointments to various committees or as a delegate abroad, such as her appointment by the State Department for the Africa-Asian Conference in Bandung, Indonesia, are also documented. The scrapbooks also chronicle extensively her travels and work as a journalist for the Pittsburgh Courier, member of the Overseas Press Club and as a United Nations correspondent.

Of note is Cartwright’s scrapbook/term paper, “Report of the Second Annual Institute of Race Relations, Fisk University, July 2-21, 1945.” The report is a daily diary of her experiences and impressions of the Race Relations Institute, letters sent home to her husband, press clippings and ephemera materials. There is some correspondence within the scrapbook with Charles S. Johnson, Fisk University, director of the department of Social Science at Fisk University, as well as photographs of people at the conference and of Fisk University’s campus. People represented include Lelia Arches, Lilas Andrews, Evedeanne Kemp,Marguerite Lane, Violette Martens, Katherine (Taffy) McCulloch, Margaret McCulloch, Savanna Roy, Mary Church Terrell and trade unionist Willard Townsend. Also of interest within the volume is Cartwright’s impressions and experiences as a Black New Englander traveling to the segregated south during the Jim Crow era.

Of interest is a chronological record of Cartwright’s activities in connection with a grant from the Fund for Adult Education for the Study of Human Relations Programs concentrating on the problems of minority groups (1953). Additionally, included is material on the topic of injustice issues regarding African Americans in the United States court and prison system.

Women’s organizations represented throughout the scrapbooks include the Committee for Equal Justice, the American Association of University Women, and the Young Women’s Christian Association (YWCA) Lucy Thurman Branch.

Topics within the correspondence and scrapbooks include: apartheid in South Africa; interracial relations; independence of Nigeria and Ghana; United Nations actions and policies in relation to newly independent African countries, the Middle East and Israel; African-Jewish Relations; work on the Provisional Council of the University of Nigeria, as well as the establishment of the university; Overseas Press Club Association; human rights; Vice President Richard Nixon’s visit to Africa in 1957; post-war Germany; Peace Corps in Nigeria; and trip to Japan, India, Burma and Europe in 1965.

Main correspondents throughout the correspondence and scrapbooks: S.O. Adebo, Permanent Mission of Nigeria to the United Nations (New York); Yusufur Alie, H.M. Customs and Excise (Kaho, Nigeria); Ehud Auriel, ambassador to Ghana, Israeli Embassy; S. Oluwole Awokoya, Federal Ministry of Education (Lagos, Nigeria); Albert N.D. Brooks, the Association for the Study of Negro Life and History, Inc.; Bene Cohen, press secretary for Congresswoman Frances P. Bolton, Committee on Foreign Affairs (Washington, D.C.); G. Akin Delco (Gebriel Akinola), FAO Regional Office (Accra, Ghana); K. Disu (Abdul Karim), Nigerian journalist; R.W. Francis, Press Section, Colonial Office (Lagos, Nigeria); Edith Holden (Greenwich, Connecticut); M.R. Krdron, Israel Mission to the United Nations (New York); Victor Osakwe, press secretary for Nnamdi Azikiwe, first president of Nigeria (Lagos, Nigeria); Howland H. Sargent, deputy assistant secretary of the State of Public Affairs (Washington, D.C.); Phillip Sterling (Rye, New York); Cornell R. Taylor, Executive Secretary, City of Milwaukee, Commission on Human Rights; R.O. Ukota (Enugu, Eastern Nigeria); Claire Wilber (New York); Mal Whitfield (Nigeria, West Africa); and H.E. Hanan Yavor, ambassador to Liberia, Israeli Embassy.

Occasional correspondents: George Houser, American Committee on Africa (ACOA), and Judge Raymond Pace Alexander.

There is a small amount of papers from her husband Leonard C. Cartwright, an engineer; a consultant and researcher for projects in chemistry, biochemistry, physics, etc.; and writer of technical papers and patents. Leonard Cartwright’s materials are professional in nature encompassing scrapbooks and drafts and published versions of his technical and scientific writings, and university transcripts. Of interest is a certificate of his honorable discharge from the United States Defense Corps where he was a gas reconnaissance officer (1945). Of note are materials documenting his appointment and work in 1963 as the salt production expert for the Technical Assistance Mission of the United Nations in Suakin, Sudan. The mission’s new plant was to produce salt from sea water on the shores of the Red Sea.