Correspondence, 1971 February 11-28

The correspondence of the Field Director includes frequent communications with prominent NAACP leaders such as Roy Wilkins, the Executive Director of the NAACP; Gloster B. Current, the Director of Branches and Field Administrator of the NAACP; Richard L. Dockery, the Director of the NAACP’s Region IV; and Emmitt Douglas, the President of the Louisiana Conference of Branches and Youth Councils. Correspondents include other NAACP officials such as Carolyn Q. Coleman, the Director of Youth; Arnold Aronson, who served as Secretary of the Leadership Conference on Civil Rights; June Shagaloff Alexander, the Director for the Education Program; Lucille Black, Secretary for Membership; James Brown, Jr., Regional Youth Field Director; Raphael Cassimere, Jr., who served as President of both the New Orleans Youth Council and the New Orleans Branch; Allison L. Chapital, Senior and Junior, both of whom served as President of the national organization; Kivie Kaplan, who was President of the national organization; Clarence Mitchell, the Director of the Washington Bureau; Henry Lee Moon, Director of Public Relations; Edward B. Muse, the Life Membership Assistant; Robert L. Carter, General Counsel; Julius E. Williams, Director of Armed Forces and Veterans Affairs; Bishop Stephen Gill Spottswood, the Chairman of the Board of Directors; Aletha T. L. Simmons, the Secretary for Training; and Carla Allen Ranger, the Training Secretary for the Dallas, Texas region.

Other correspondents of note include national and Louisiana politicians such as Representative Walter E. Fountroy of the District of Columbia; Senator J. William Fulbright of Arkansas; Representative Charles C. Diggs, Jr. of Michigan; Representative Bella S. Abzug of New York; Senators Russell Long and J. Bennett Johnston of Louisiana; Governor John J. McKeithen of Louisiana; Governor Edwin W. Edwards of Louisiana; Representatives Gillis Long, Hale Boggs, F. Edward Hebert, and Lindy Boggs of Louisiana; Louisiana State Representatives Sidney Barthelemy, Louis Charbonnet, III, Dorothy Mae Taylor, and Mayors Moon Landrieu and Ernest N. Morial of New Orleans; labor leaders Victor Bussie and Clarence “Chink” Henry; law enforcement officials such as United States Attorney Gerald J. Gallinghouse, District Attorney Jim Garrison, Superintendents of Police Clarence B. Giarrusso and Joseph I. Giarrusso, Judge Israel M. Augustine, Jr., and Louisiana State Attorney General William J. Guste, Jr.; and local civil rights leaders such as Rev. A.L. Davis, Rev. Avery Alexander, Celestine Cook, Daniel E. Byrd, and James Hayes.

Correspondence topics include civil rights complaints, internal structure of the NAACP organization, the economic boycott of 1969 in Ferriday, Louisiana, and the arrest and conviction of Emmitt Douglas for inciting a riot, which also occurred in 1969.