Ernest J. Wright collection

This collection pertaining to New Orleans activist Ernest J. Wright documents his work in the area of labor unionism and civil rights issues, particularly voter registration during the 1930s through the 1970s. Materials include correspondence, publications and printed ephemera, news clippings and photocopies of photographs. The correspondence is small, numbering only four letters from 1955 to 1973. The earliest letter is an inivitation to John G. Lewis to speak at a Peoples Defense League conference in New Orleans. The second concerns Wright’s residence in the Pontchartrain Park subdivision of New Orleans, while the latter two concern Wright's organizing work. The bulk of the papers are news clippings (both originals and photocopies, dating from 1940s to 1979) that document Wright’s activities and life, as well as activities of the People’s Defense League. Of note are a 1976 Times-Picayune article on African American politicians and political organizations in New Orleans; various articles from 1979 following Wright’s death; and a small number of Wright’s “I Daresay” columns. Additional materials in the collection include a number of photocopied items, including excerpts from Wright’s 1933 B.A. thesis at Xavier University of Louisiana titled “Brief Study of Working Conditions of the Colored Citizens in New Orleans, Louisiana,” a flyer for an undated speech by Wright in Shakespeare Park, totals for the Democratic primary election of 1963 during which Wright ran for lieutenant governor of Louisiana, and unidentified photographs. Also present is an undated handscript sermon or speech by an unknown author titled “The House Wisdom Built,” an undated segregationist brochure on school integration distributed by The State Sovereignty Commission and The Joint Legislative Committee on Segregation in Louisiana, a 1961 booklet for the Automobile Carrier Truckaway Agreement, and two volumes of the Subversion in Racial Unrest report based on state legislative hearings in Louisiana in 1957.