]> PUBLIC "-//The New York Public Library//TEXT (US::NN::Sc Micro R-972::Oakley Johnson Papers, 1946-1959)//ENG" "scjohnso.xml" Inventory of the Oakley Johnson Papers, 1946-1959 Processed by Stanton F. Biddle; Machine-readable finding aid created by Apex Data Services; revised by Terry Catapano.

©2000 The New York Public Library, Astor, Lenox and Tilden Foundations. All rights reserved.

 Text converted and initial EAD tagging provided by Apex Data Services, April 1999. Revised by Terry Catapano May 2000 Description is in English October 16, 2006 EAD v1.0 finding aid converted to EAD 2002 using UC Berkeley's eadv1to2002.pl perl script. Inventory of the Oakley Johnson Papers, 1946-1959 Sc Micro R3548 Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture The New York Public Library New York, New York Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture. New York Public Library. 515 Malcolm X Boulevard New York, NY 10037-1801 (212) 491-2224 scmarbref@nypl.org http://nypl.org/research/sc/scm/marb.html Stanton F. Biddle August 1968 Apex Data Services; Terry Catapano

©2000 The New York Public Library. Astor, Lenox and Tilden Foundations. All rights reserved.
Preface

This inventory is one of the several prepared as a part of the archival program at the New York Public Library's Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture, during the summer of 1968.

The Schomburg Center's archival program involves the organization and preservation of primary source material held by the Center, and the preparation of preliminary inventories, to make this material available to scholars.

Necessary staff and supplies for this project were made possible by a combination of library funds, special city, state and federal government funds, and Ford Foundation funds.

Stanton F. Biddle

August 1968

 Descriptive Summary Oakley Johnson Papers, 1946-1959 Sc Micro R3548 Johnson, Oakley 8 Archival Boxes The New York Public Library Manuscripts, Archives and Rare Books Division Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture English Administrative Information Provenance

Gift of Oakley Johnson, 1968

 Chronology 1890, March 22 Born in Standish, Michigan; son of Calvin and Elizabeth Gibbon Johnson. 1908-1912 Served as rural schoolteacher and took summer courses at Ferris Institute, Big Rapids, Michigan. 1912 Joined Socialist Party of America. 1913 Married Mary Olmsted (d.1949) 1917 Received diploma and state teachers' life certificate from Michigan State Normal College, Ypsilanti, Michigan. 1919 Delegate to Chicago Communist Party Organizing Convention. 1920 Received A.B. degree cum laude (Phi Beta Kappa) from the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, Michigan. 1920-1928 Instructor in English and Rhetoric at the University of Michigan. 1921 Received M.A. degree in English from the University of Michigan 1928 Received Ph.D. in English from University of Michigan. Subject of doctoral dissertation was Literary Allusion in Contemporary American Literature, as characterized in the field of rhetoric and aesthetics. 1928-1930 Assistant Professor of English at Long Island University, Brooklyn, New York 1930-1932 Instructor of English at the College of the City of New York (evening session), New York, New York 1933-1935 Newspaper reporter ( Daily Worker,) editor ( The Monthly Review), teacher (New York Worker School), lecturer 1935-1937 and 1939 Traveled in Europe 1935-1936 Assistant Professor of English at the Institute of Modern Languages, Moscow, U.S.S.R. 1938-1942 Taught intermittently at the Workers Schools, New York, and Philadelphia, Pennsylvania 1940-1944 Served on staff of Daily Worker 1945-1946 Taught at Augusta Savage School, New York (Harlem), New York 1946-1947 Assistant Professor of English at Talladega College, Talladega Alabama 1947-1948 Received Carnegie Grant-in-Aid for a study of “Preventive Remedial English in the Negro Secondary School.” 1947-1951 Associate Professor of English, Dillard University, New Orleans, Louisiana 1948 Married Mary Lea Jackson 1949-1951 Served as Executive Secretary of the Louisiana Civil Rights Congress 1951-1951 Received Carnegie Grant-in-Aid for a study of “Unequal Justice in Louisiana.” 1951-1952 Associate Professor of English, Tillotson College, Austin, Texas 1954-1955 Taught at Jefferson School of Social Science, New York, New York 1957, April Investigated by the House of Representative Committee on Un-American Activities for alleged communist activities 1957 Took extended trip through the South, during which he became involved in the defense of the Jenkins couple. Co-Author of: The Way of Composition (1925) Author of: The Arguer's Handbook (1927) The Day is Coming (1957) An American Century (ed. 1967) Scope and Content

The Oakley C. Johnson Papers, numbering eight boxes, focus on the activities and interests of this English professor and civil liberties advocate from approximately 1946 to 1957. Of special interest is the data relating to Johnson's involvement with Louisiana Civil Rights Congress, and his manuscripts of writings on racial prejudice in the United States.

The collection is organized into two series, corresponding to Johnson's years of teaching in the South from 1946 to 1952 and his activities after returning North in 1952.

 Container List 1 1 Southern Period, 1949-1952

The first series Southern Period, 1946-1952, contains material relating to Johnson's academic pursuits at Talladega College (Alabama), Dillard University (Louisiana), and Tillotson College (Texas); as well as data concerning his role as Executive Secretary of the Louisiana Civil Rights Congress from 1949 to 1951. This material (pamphlets, legal transcripts and briefs, press releases, clippings, correspondence) involves the legal activities of the Congress, particularly its attempt to secure justice for Paul Washington and Ocie Jugger, two men accused, convicted, and sentenced to die on a charge of rape.

 Talladega College, 1946-1947 1 1 1 Financial Materials 1 2 1 Photographs 1 3 1 Student Publications And Programs Dillard University, 1947-1951 1 4 1 Class Register 1 5a 1 Correspondence 1 5b 1 Correspondence - Ira De. A. Reid 1 6 1 Pamphlets And Speeches 1 7 1 Programs 1 8 1 School Publications 2 9 1 Student Publications four folders Tillotson College, 1951-1952 2 10 1 Class Register 2 11 1 English Department 2 12 1 General 2 13 1 Personal 2 14 1 Student Publications 2 15 1 Yearbook Louisiana Civil Rights Congress, 1949-1951 3 16a 2 Cases 3 16b 2 Cases - Roy Brooks 3 16c 2 Cases - Honeycutt 3 16d 2 Cases - Trenton Six, “Trials For Murder (Alleged)” 4 17a 2 Cases - Jugger / Washington 4 folders 4 17b 2 Cases - Jugger / Washington 3 folders 4 18 3 Correspondence 4 19 3 Correspondence - Jugger / Washington Case 4 folders 4 20 3 Miscellaneous 2 folders 5 21 3 Press Clippings 5 22 3 Press Releases 4 folders 5 23 3 Progressive Party 5 24 3 Young Progressive Party Carnegie Grant-In-Aid For “Study Of Unequal Justice Louisiana,” 1950-1951 5 25 3 Correspondence 5 26 3 Proposal, Outline And Study 5 27 3 Source Materials Clippings and Pamphlets General, 1948-1952 5 28 3 Federated Press Releases (Dillard Oaks) 5 29 3 Genocide - Speech To Unitarians, Austin Texas, 1952 5 30 3 Miscellaneous 5 31 3 Various Legal Documents Post-Southern Period, 1952-1959

The second series Post Southern Period, 1952-1959, covers Johnson's teaching, writing, and civil rights activities after he returned to New York in 1952. Notes, source materials, and manuscripts of his extensive writings on civil liberties and segregation are included in this section, together with material concerning a trip through the South in 1957.

 6 4 Professional Interests And Activities 6 1 3 Application Folder (Teaching) 6 2 3 Brooklyn College, 1952 6 3a 3 Civil Rights Congress - Statement Of Purpose, 1954 6 3b 3 Civil Rights Congress Publications, 1952-1956 6 4 3 Clippings, Letters, Leaflets 6 5 3 Correspondence 6 6 3 Correspondence - Photo Evidence Of Segregation 6 7 3 Help To A Lawyer On A Brief, 1954 6 8 3 House Un-American Activities Committee Material, 1957 - (Investigation Of Hearing Regarding Oakley Johnson) 6 9 3 March On Washington, 1959 6 10 3 Patterson, William 6 11 3 Petition, 1954 6 12 3 Tutoring And Special Classes Manuscripts, Publications And Materials 7 13 3 Book On Negroes - Various Planned Writings 7 14 3 Caracas Letter: Six Year Retrogression Toward A Police State“ (By W. L. Patterson) 7 15 3 “Civil Rights Congress: Cases In The Courts” - Notes 3 folders 7 16 3 “The Decline Of Freedom In The U.S.A.” 7 17a 3 Glossary Of Twenty-Five Historic Civil Rights Cases 2 folders 7 17b 3 Glossary - Preliminary Sketches 7 18 3 Marxism And The Negro (Material For Book) 2 folders 8 19 3 “The `Mask' Of Justice” 2 folders 8 20 3 “The `Mask' Of Justice” - Genocide Source Material 8 21 3 “The `Mask' Of Justice” - The Letter Of The Law 8 22 3 Metropolitan Music School Brochure, 1954 8 23 3 Texas Efforts To Do A Study Of Unequal Justice In That State, 1952-1954? Southern Trip 1957 8 24 3 General Report 8 25 3 Jenkins Case 3 folders Appendix: Comprises Additional Materials Received Into The Oakley Johnson Papers Following The Collection's Initial Completion In August, 1968. 8 1 3 Article - “The South's Amended Barratry Laws,” By G. Pearson Smith Jr., 1963 8 2 3 Correspondence, 1966-1968 8 3 3 National Committee To Secure Justice For Morton Sobell, 1958