1937 State Wide Conference Of African American Youth

Chicago: N.P., 1937. Very good -. 11” x 8½”. Six side-stapled mimeographed leaves, printed rectos only + two smaller inserts laid in. Pp. [6] including illustrated cover. Very good minus: moderately worn and creased; contemporary penciled notation to rear and a few internal check marks; inserts detached from staples and laid in.

This is an apparently unrecorded program for a meeting of a little-known Chicago organization, the State-Wide Conference of Negro Youth (SCNY). Both the group and the sessions were led by notable, highly accomplished African Americans, and the program documents countless members and patrons as well as Black-owned and (truncated) -friendly restaurants at the time.

There was surprisingly little information to be found online about SCNY, despite the achievements of its many members and leaders. Sponsored by the Chicago Urban League, this 1937 conference was the second of its kind, and we found evidence of there being a fourth two years later. Both were chaired by SCNY president Pauline Redmond, later Pauline Redmond Coggs. Born in 1912, Coggs graduated from the University of Chicago and earned a master's in social work from the University of Pittsburgh. She served as director of youth activities for the Chicago Urban League and as a race relations adviser with the Office of Civilian Defense. In 1943 she was named executive director of the Washington, D.C. Urban League, becoming the first African American woman to head the organization. She taught at Howard and the University of Wisconsin, and is known for her trailblazing work in racial advancement and social reform. She was the first president of her Alpha Kappa Alpha sorority chapter, which established the Pauline Redmond Coggs Foundation in 1999.

Other SCNY officers (and discussion leaders for this meeting) included vice presidents Charles P. Browning and Russell DeBow, and treasurer Claude Lightfoot. Browning served as State Director of Negro Activities for the National Youth Administration and as director of public relations and assistant publisher of the Chicago Defender. A journalism award has been named in his honor. Lightfoot was a well-known Black activist and author who lectured widely and was several times the nominee of the Communist Party of the USA for elected political office. Cook County Circuit Court Judge Russell DeBow had a career in public service that spanned five decades, including being the first African American to serve on the staff of a Chicago mayor, as administrative assistant to Richard Daley in 1965.

This conference additionally featured a host of notable speakers. Friday's opening service, as well as a Saturday session on “Democratic Liberties” were conducted by Angelo Herndon. Herndon was an African American labor organizer arrested for insurrection after trying to organize Black and white industrial workers in Atlanta in 1932. Found guilty by an all-white jury, he was sentenced to 20 years “on the chain gang.” While his case was under appeal, he went on a national speaking tour, and in 1937 the United States Supreme Court ruled that Georgia's insurrection law was unconstitutional. A discussion on “Labor Relations” was led by Lester B. Granger, a social worker, noted Black activist and executive secretary of the National Urban League from 1941 to 1961. Thelma Kirkpatrick (later Wheaton) led a session on “Peace.” Well-known in her community, Wheaton was a social worker and civil rights activist, board member of the South Side Community Art Center and lifelong volunteer at the DuSable Museum of African American History.

The program further includes poems and song lyrics, a list of the many SCNY committee members and patrons, and “suggested eating places for conference delegates.” The 12 eateries listed showed the YMCA, YWCA and the historic Harris restaurant, known for welcoming all clientele from its earliest days, as well as the Black-owned Morris Eat Shop, Palm Tavern and Ernie Henderson's Chicken Shack. Interestingly, Ernie Henderson was the first African American invited to demonstrate his frying methods at a convention of the National Restaurant Association in 1939.

Lastly, the cover art is signed “Geo. Murphy” which may be the important African American artist Arthur George Murphy. While the signature is different from those on his prints, the style is reminiscent of his 1936 Steel Riggers series and Murphy was known to do cartoon work for Chicago newspapers.

Rare evidence of a conference on African American youth organized by a legion of notable leaders, and important Black history in the Chicago area. We found no evidence of this program, nor anything else from SCNY in OCLC or online. (Inventory #: 8710)