Southern Tenant Farmers Union Records on Microfilm, 1932-1971
Collection Number: 5204 mf

Only two folders of papers survive from this year. There is a copy of the union's first Constitution, as well as the Constitution of the Oklahoma Renters Union upon which the STFU document was based. The papers include a report by Mitchell on the union's activities during 1934, an STFU "Program of Action", and The Plight of the Sharecropper, a booklet by Norman Thomas (note: this is the original edition. A copy of the revised edition appears in the selection from the Howard A. Kester Papers on Reel 59). There are a few pieces of correspondence with the AAA and with Donald Henderson of the National Conference of Agricultural, Lumber and Rural Workers.

The main topics in the papers for this period include the Norcross Plantation eviction case, the arrest of STFU speaker Ward H. Rodgers in Marked Tree, Arkansas during a union meeting, and the STFU delegation sent to Washington in April to picket the Department of Agriculture. There are a number of statements, press releases, and letters related to the Rodgers case. There is also a great deal of correspondence from Norman Thomas; see especially his exchange with Secretary of Agriculture Henry A. Wallace (April 16). Readers interested in the union's activities during 1935 should consult the selection from the Howard A. Kester Papers on Reel 59 for additional materials.

Correspondence during may Concerns the Controversy within the AAA over Section 7a of the Cotton Contract; see especially a letter from Norman Thomas describing his recent conversation with President Roosevelt on this subject (May 8). There is an exchange of letters with union lawyer CT Carpenter and the ACLU on the advisability of further legal action against Arkansas planters to counter eviction of tenants. The STFU experienced troubles within the ranks of its own leadership and was forced to expel both WH Stultz and J.O. Green. On the expulsions, see the injunction obtained against Stultz (June 17), an affidavit sworn by Stultz affirming his dire poverty (June 27) and the Constitution of Green's Fascist-style "Tenant Farmers' and Labors' Patriotic Union" (July 19). There is also an interesting communication from the Alabama Share Croppers Union on Green's attempt to subvert their strike. The papers for September include press releases, leaflets, etc. relating to the strike of cotton pickers called by the union in eastern Arkansas.

There is correspondence relating to Howard Kester's successful attempt to secure an endorsement of the STFU at the AF of L annual convention, including a copy of the resolution adopted (Oct 17). Items of special interest include a series of reports from J.R. Butler on his organizing trip to Texas (Oct. 26 to 31), a memorandum by Mitchell entitled "A New Homestead Law" (Nov 20), a circular sent out by Kester soliciting support for The Sharecropper's Voice (Dec. 10) and replies, and a report by Butler on an anti-poll tax meeting in Little Rock (Dec 10).

Reports from organizers Robert Reed and N.W. Webb; materials on the cotton pickers' strike of September, including Kester's report entitled "Acts of Tyranny and Terror"; a compendium of individual acts of violence against union members; the STFU brief before the Arkansas Supreme Court in the Norcross Plantation eviction case; plans for rehabilitating evicted tenants; circular letter issued by the Conference of Younger Churchmen of the South to protest the arrest of Ward H. Rodgers; instruction sheets for STFU organizers and locals; report on the Share Croppers Union (Ala.); report on the STFU delegation sent to Washington to picket the AAA; a brief history of the STFU.

The Second Annual STFU Convention was held at Little Rock on January 3 to 5; the papers include the program, press releases, the "report of the Second Annual Convention," the Report of the Executive Secretary for 1935; and "Ceremony of the Land" by Howard Kester. There is a good deal of material concerning the union's attempt to gain representation at a conference called by Secretary of Agriculture Henry A. Wallace on the future of the AAA (Jan. 8 to 15). Another major topic is the situation at Parkin, Arkansas, where a mass eviction of tenants at the C.H. Dibble plantation was followed by the violent disruption of a union meeting in the adjacent town of Earle and the erection of a tent colony to shelter the homeless families. Lastly, there is much correspondence with women STFU members on the decision by the convention to create separate locals for women.

Union activity during February was devoted to obtaining help for evicted tenants from various New Deal agencies. See especially Gardner Jackson's report on his discussions with the WPA (12) and Kester's letters on his negotiations with the Resettlement Administration concerning a projected cooperative farm for displaced tenants (18, 21, 29). Toward the end of the month, a frequent topic in the correspondence is the case of Jim Ball, a black STFU organizer convicted of "intent to kill" a deputy sheriff during the violence at Earle in January; see especially the STFU brief before the Arkansas Supreme Court appealing Ball's case (26).

There is an interesting exchange of correspondence between Kester and Mitchell on the desirability of setting up an STFU-sponsored cooperative farm to house evicted tenants (13,18,23), as well as a report from Kester on a conference called by Gardner Jackson's National Committee on Rural Social Planning (31). Other items of special interest include Kester's pamphlet, Revolt of the Sharecroppers (17), Mitchell's preliminary instructions to his locals on a forthcoming strike (9,19), and Mitchell's widespread appeals for financial help for the union, including letters to two of his friends in New Orleans explaining in detail the philosophy of the STFU (23).

There is a flood of telegrams from Gardner Jackson through the first half of the month relating to the presentation of evidence of anti-union violence before the Senate Committee on Civil Liberties chaired by Robert M. La Follette, Jr. The papers also include a frequent exchange of letters between Mitchell and STFU Vice-President E.B. McKinney on McKinney's fund-raising trip to New York and on his complaints of mistreatment by his fellow STFU officers. There is a mimeographed letter from Mitchell to all locals on strike preparations (18) and a letter from Mitchell to Norman Thomas on reports that Donald Henderson was attempting to undermine the STFU leadership (27).

The strike, which began May 18, dominates the union correspondence for this month. See especially the frequent STFU press releases on the strike, the circular letter sent out to AF of L affiliates appealing for strike funds (21), and Mitchell's almost daily communications with Gardner Jackson. Toward the end of May, a major issue developed in the case of Paul Peacher, a Crittenden County (Ark.) Deputy Sheriff accused of holding sharecroppers in peonage on his penal farm; see especially the union press release, "Concentration Camps in Arkansas" (21).

The strike and the violence mounted by the planters to break the strike are the main issues in the papers for June. The papers include several STFU press releases on the strike and a considerable amount of correspondence between Mitchell and union members on the expenditure of strike relief funds. Friends of the union also sent STFU headquarters copies of their letters to state and Federal officials protesting the unchecked violence. There is also a discussion of plans to send a sharecropper delegation to picket Franklin D. Roosevelt on his visit to Little Rock (3 to 10). On the problems of raising funds for legal defense, see especially two letters from Professor William R. Amberson (23,37).

Several STFU members faced legal charges in the aftermath of the strike, and Gardner Jackson kept union headquarters informed of his efforts to raise bail money (6,10,28). The ACLU sent a copy of their letter to Arkansas governor J.M. Funtrell listing a number of cases in which the civil rights of union members were allegedly violated (8), while J.C. Brookfield, a union lawyer, and the WDL sent reports on the cases of Nathan Smith and Josh Turner, both held on felony charges in Crittenden County (23,30). STFU Vice-President E.B. McKinney, in hiding from the Memphis police, wrote frequently about his poverty and the mistreatment of blacks by white STFU leaders; see also Mitchell's reply (31). Also of special interest in July is a set of three "test letters", addressing black union members by title, sent out in an attempt to catch local postmasters who refused to deliver mail addressed in this fashion (5,7 -- see also an explanatory note by Mitchell at this date).

Topics under discussion during August include plans to send former STFU leader Walter Moskop to California after his attempt to assassinate H.L. Mitchell, the forthcoming Socialist Party campaign in Arkansas, a training school for union organizers held at the Delta Cooperative Farm beginning August 17, legal defense problems, and the discussion of STFU tactics toward Governor Futrell's planned Commission on Farm Tenancy. There is a letter from Mitchell to Donald Henderson protesting Henderson's editorial in The Rural Worker (12) and an exchange between Mitchell and Gardner Jackson on whether the STFU should concentrate on building its internal structure or on gaining national publicity (11,12).

Governor Futrell's Commission on Farm Tenancy met at Hot Springs on September 21; see the STFU Statement to the Commission which appears on that date. Other topics in the papers include the speaking tours of Socialist Party candidates Norman Thomas and George A. Nelson, including Thomas' Memphis speech entitled "Arkansas Shame" (17), the STFU claim that WPA officials were dropping workers from the relief rolls in an attempt to drive down Arkansas plantation wages, and arrangements with the Workers Defense League (formerly the Labor and Socialist Defense Committee) to handle STFU legal problems. There are letters from union members A.B. Brookins and J.F. Lee, recounting the violence they have experienced (7).

The first half of the month was relatively quiet for the STFU. The union filed a Supplementary Statement to Gov. Futrell's Commission (10), and a similar commission in Oklahoma issued a report of its proceedings (22). Mitchell wrote organizer Roy Morelock to explain the new system of record keeping adopted by the union (13). During the second half of October, two major issues developed: the complaint of organizer L.N. Sybert that white union officials were not fair in their treatment of black members, and the charges made by US District Attorney Fred Isgrig concerning an STFU fund-raising letter sent out by the Workers Defense League in New York (24, 29 to 31). The papers include a letter from Mitchell to the WDL listing the status of the various court cases the union was currently involved in (21); a mimeographed letter from Howard Kester to the union membership explaining the work of the Central Defense Committee and appealing to them for funds (26); an AF of L resolution endorsing the STFU (28); and a "Calendar of Events" describing the battles of the STFU from the strike of May 18 through the Isgrig incident in October (n.d.[October]).

There is considerable correspondence concerning the Isgrig statement during the first half of the month, including a copy of a letter from Isgrig to Aron S. Gilmartin, head of the WDL (3). Other items of interest include: a letter from Mitchell to Norman Thomas, describing his recent meeting in Tampa, Florida, with Gardner Jackson and Donald Henderson in an attempt to iron out the differences between Henderson and the STFU (17); a report from Ward Rodgers on a lettuce workers strike in the Salinas Valley, Calif. (8); an open letter to President Roosevelt from the STFU (20); and three letters from Rev. Claude Williams on his proposal to start a training school for STFU organizers (19,23,26). Although Deputy Sheriff Paul D. Peacher was convicted of peonage during the last week of November, there is little in the papers relating to the case, except for a congratulatory note from Norman Thomas (25).

The papers for this month are primarily concerned with preparations for events scheduled to take place in January, including the STFU Annual Convention held at Muskogee, Okla., on Jan. 14 to 17, the Southern meeting of the Socialist Party at Norris, Tenn., on Jan. 2 and 3, and the public hearings of the President's Special Commission on Farm Tenancy, held at Dallas, Texas, and Montgomery, Alabama, on Jan. 4 and 6, respectively. At the beginning of December, the Workers Defense League sent Aaron Levenstein to STFU headquarters in Memphis to help with legal defense and fund-raising. Levenstein's almost daily correspondence with Sidney Hertzberg in the New York office of WDL provides much information on plans to initiate a National Sharecroppers Week and the "Friends of the STFU". Other items include: a prospectus for an organizers training school set up by Claude Williams at Little Rock on Dec. 13 to 22 (13); a letter of apology from Donald Henderson for his editorial in The Rural Worker (21); and the minutes of the Oklahoma Farm Tenancy Committee (19 and 31).

Monthly reports from the Edmondson and Post locals; Relief Survey Tabulation, Oklahoma; poem by Robert Lee Eckford, a 10 year old black student; leaflets for strikes and mass meetings; prospectus , "A Suggested Workers' Education Program for East Arkansas"; bill drafted by STFU for the Arkansas legislature proposing the creation of a Bureau of Landlords and Tenants; copies of affidavits by union members describing anti-union violence during the strike; "Table of Cases Involving the STFU" (a listing of major legal cases); STFU briefs filed in the cases of Willie Sue Blagden, J.M. Reese, and Sam Bennett; statements and an affidavit on anti-union violence by Mitchell and Sam Franklin; typescripts of histories of the early years of the union, including two by J.R. Butler; list of all STFU locals; press releases, including one on the Frank Weems case.

Folder 83 -- Not Filmed. Folder 87 -- Local Secretaries' Reports. Folder 88 -- State and County Secretaries' Reports. Folder 89 -- Strike Ballots. Folder 90 -- Not Filmed.

The year began with public hearings of the President's Special Commission on Farm Tenancy at Dallas and Montgomery. The papers include the STFU statements at both hearings, as well as memoranda to the commission from Odis Sweeden and Fred Matthews, STFU leaders in Oklahoma and Texas, respectively (4 to 6). Virtually all of the papers near the middle of the month have to do with the Muskogee Convention, including the "Auditors' Preliminary Report to the Convention", the convention program, Howard Kester's "Ceremony of the Land", revised for the Muskogee meeting, the "Proceedings of the Third Annual Convention" (in both printed and typescript form), and telegrams to the convention from many high-placed government and labor officials. Following the convention, there is considerable correspondence concerning a supposed agreement reached at Muskogee between Mitchell and David Fowler, a UMWA official, to cut ties between the STFU and Commonwealth College. See especially a copy of a letter from Claude Williams to Gardner Jackson, vehemently attacking the alleged bargain (23), and two letters from Howard Kester to Roger Baldwin, explaining the problems at the college and Mitchell's actions (8, 28).

The Mississippi River overflowed its banks at the beginning of the month, and much of the correspondence concerns flood relief for union members. Following the Muskogee convention, union activity in the Southwest accelerated, and there is a great amount of communication with such leaders as Odis Sweeden and John M. Denney in Oklahoma and Fred Matthews and J.R. Freeland in Texas. Much of the correspondence with Sweeden and Denney concerns the supposed Mitchell-Fowler-Jackson bargain at Muskogee (4,12,15). About the middle of the month, two black union members in Forrest City, Ark. were murdered and the lawyers sent to investigate were run out of town.

The first week of March was National Sharecroppers Week, but there is virtually no information about it in the papers. The only other event of importance during this month was a meeting of the National Executive Committee on March 21; see Mitchell's detailed report to the Committee which appears on that date. Other items of interest include a 22-page report from Stephen C. Seys, Secretary of the Jasper (Ark.) local (18), an STFU press release on the AAA statement concerning planter violations of the cotton control program (20), and a pamphlet entitled "Legislative Program of the STFU of Oklahoma" (1).

The papers include a circular letter to STFU members on a new WPA Workers Education Program planned for Arkansas (15), a letter from Mitchell to Jackson describing the organizing effort underway in the Southwest (17), a pamphlet of letters from sharecroppers to the union entitled "The Disinherited Speak" (filed at April 26), and a report by Mitchell on the Agricultural Workers Wage Conference held at Birmingham, Alabama on March 18, including the conference program (17 to 19).

The major topics for the month include Mitchell's attempt to resign as STFU National Secretary on May 15 and the Wage Conference which the union held at the Memphis Labor Temple on May 23; both of these subjects are amply documented in the papers. Violence and legal troubles flared up again in May, including the arrest of organizer J.F. Hynds for calling a strike of 200 WPA workers on a highway project near Forrest City and the disruption of union meetings in Caruthersville, Mo. and Mississippi County, Ark.

A possible invitation to join the CIO led to a flurry of correspondence among the friends and leaders of the STFU; see especially Gardner Jackson's reports on his negotiations in Washington with John L. Lewis and Donald Henderson (5,9,24) and two detailed letters from Socialist Party Labor Secretary Frank Trager on the situation (17,30), as well as the correspondence with Henderson himself. The CIO proposal was the main item on the agenda of an especially important NEC meeting held June 20; the full set of minutes appear at that date. The NEC also adopted a new set of operating procedures for the union which Mitchell outlined in a mimeographed letter to all local secretaries (24).

The UCAPAWA organizing convention was held in Denver, Colorado on July 9 to 11. Although seven STFU officials attended, there is surprisingly little material about it in the papers; see, however, Mitchell's statement to the convention (9), a copy of the preliminary draft of the UCAPAWA Constitution (9), and a Xerox copy of a letter from Blaine Treadway to Sam Franklin on his early impressions of the meeting (8). Apart from UCAPAWA, there is a letter from the Resettlement Administration promising to investigate STFU complaints (3)

Routine correspondence with UCAPAWA headquarters begins the first week of August. Mitchell explained the new affiliation to the STFU membership and the new operating procedures to his organizers in mimeographed letters (5,21). The union began preparations for a special convention to ratify the UCAPAWA affiliation and for a series of local strikes to demand higher wages for cotton picking, both slated for September. To avert further violence against the union, J.R. Butler began sending telegrams to Arkansas Governor Carl Bailey, informing him of threats made against union meetings (6,20). Other items of special interest include: an exchange between Butler and Kester, working out their personal differences (18,20); Mitchell to organizer Lee Phillips on STFU policy toward union activity in Mississippi (24); J.E. Clayton, a black STFU organizer from Texas, to Mitchell on getting black workers in the South into the CIO (29); and Mitchell to Aubrey Williams, reporting on his recent conversation with Governor Bailey on Bailey's political plans (31)

The UCAPAWA District Convention was held at Memphis on September 24 to 26; the papers include the call (1) and two mimeographed reports to all STFU locals on the results of the convention and the new procedures adopted (29,30). Gordon McIntire, Louisiana organizer for the National Farmers Union, wrote to urge Mitchell to begin organizing Louisiana sugar workers (7,14,24) and the New Orleans Industrial Union Council seconded the proposal (23): see also Mitchell's lengthy reply, detailing his plans for organizing all southern workers under UCAPAWA (8). Anti-union violence continued with a mob attack on J.R. Butler and the disruption of union meetings in Missouri. A letter sent to the WDL provides a listing of all legal cases currently pending (7). There is an interesting letter from Arthur G. McDowell, the new Labor Secretary of the Socialist Party, setting forth his plans (23), and a copy of a set of correspondence from the ACLU on the beating of UAW organizer Norman Smith in Memphis (25)

Trouble developed in two small Arkansas towns. At Forrest City, union lawyer C.A. Stanfield was attacked while attempting to defend two STFU members; the papers include a press release on the incident (2) and nine affidavits from witnesses (8,9,11). At Blytheville, local planters forcibly prevented cotton pickers from working on adjacent plantations for higher wages; in addition to considerable correspondence with the leaders of the union in Blytheville, there are 4 affidavits (13) and statements from town residents (15). There is a series of detailed letters between STFU and UCAPAWA headquarters, trying to iron out administrative problems (6,8,9,11,19), as well as a number of letters from Mitchell to local STFU officials explaining the new administrative procedure (19 to 29). In this connection, see also the nine-page typewritten memorandum from Gardner Jackson to the CIO on the STFU (1). Throughout October and November, there is an especially heavy volume of correspondence between J.R. Butler and various union members, dealing mainly with their personal problems. Finally, there is an affidavit of a black union member refused the vote even though he had paid his poll tax (25)

Blytheville and Forrest City continued to dominate STFU concern during November. The union attempted to convince the U.S. Department of Justice to initiate a peonage case at Forrest City, but had little luck with District Attorney Fred A. Isgrig (16), or his superiors in Washington (Dec. 6). The STFU National Executive Committee met on Nov. 20; the minutes may be found in the Howard A. Kester Papers, Reel 59. There is a detailed letter from Butler to Kester, enumerating the issues to be discussed at the meeting (17) and a report to the NEC from Evelyn Smith on the change-over to UCAPAWA administrative routine (20). Also of interest: an affidavit by Mitchell, describing threats made against him by Memphis police chief Will D. Lee (2); a report from George Lambert on his organizing work in Houston and on interference from the Communist Party (11); and a mimeographed letter from Mitchell to all STFU locals informing them of a union survey to determine how many members need WPA relief (19)

Replies to Mitchell's relief survey began arriving about the first of the month. Correspondence with UCAPAWA over administrative problems continued, and there is also a descriptive listing of all correspondence between the STFU and UCAPAWA from July 19 to Dec. 31, 1937 (31). Unusually heavy correspondence from Odis L. Sweeden appears in the papers, mainly on the subject of accelerating the effort of Pioneer Youth of America, Inc. to distribute Christmas toys to sharecropper children. There are also several individual items of particular interest: a letter to the ACLU on the case of Laurent Frantz, a representative of the People's Rights Committee arrested in Memphis (8); a letter from Barney Egan, Regional Director of the CIO, describing a meeting of black farmers held at Littig, Texas by J.E. Clayton (17), and one from Clayton, suggesting strategy for organizing black workers in the South (28); a call for an emergency session of the NEC to act on reports of internal subversion of locals in Cross and Crittenden Counties, Ark. (21); Henderson to Butler on organizer's credentials, listing all district organizers appointed to date (21); and a letter from Kester, suggesting ways to improve the forthcoming STFU convention (24).

Prospectus for the "New Era Schools of Social Action and Prophetic Religion", Claude Williams, Director; "Henrietta and Myrtle", a four-page mimeographed account of the 1937 National Sharecroppers Week in New York; tabulation of results of the WPA employment program in selected Southern counties; "Legal Financial Statement" of the STFU for 1937; various survey forms (mostly blank); petitions supporting the Bankhead-Jones Bill; correspondence related to the incidents at Blytheville and Forrest City, Ark.; STFU press release on violence in Missouri; statements and affidavits from union members; complete (?) list of STFU locals in 1937; survey of 25 Arkansas farm families; list of contributors to the union, 1936-1937; mimeographed article, "The Cotton Picker and Unemployment", by John and Mack Rust; "The Southern Tenant Farmers Union Forever", a play in three acts by Mrs. Flotine Hodge. Also, a letter from Lee Phillips to Butler on his troubles at the Delta Cooperative Farm, and a resolution promoted by the DCF local.

Folder 206-b -- Applications for UCAPAWA local charters, selected from Folder 207. Generally, those selected for filming contain a greater amount of information than those not filmed. Folder 207 -- not filmed. Folder 208 -- Applications for STFU membership. One sample application filmed. Folder 209 -- Certificates of Affiliation with UCAPAWA and STFU Charters. One sample of each filmed. Folder 211 -- Not Filmed. Folder 212 -- Local organizers' credentials. One sample filmed. Folders 213 to 215 -- Replies to STFU questionnaire. Sent to all locals in June, 1937, providing information on the number of members in each local, their race, occupations, etc. A summary of the results appears at the beginning of the returns, which number 111. Folder 216 -- Local Secretary Reports (pre-UCAPAWA). Folder 217 -- Not Filmed. Folder 218 -- Not filmed. Folder 220 -- Monthly reports of Membership and Fees (UCAPAWA). Folder 222 -- Weekly and Monthly Organizers' Reports. Folders 223 and 224 -- Replies to an STFU questionnaire. sent out in conjunction with the Wage Scale Conference of May 23, 1937. The reply sheets provide information on the working conditions and wages, both actual and desired, of union members.

Unnumbered folder -- Not filmed. Folder 225 -- Results of survey of union members in need of government relief, conducted from Nov. 24, 1937 to Jan. 1, 1938 on a house-to-house basis by STFU locals. Information includes the number of dependents in each family. A summary and various tabulations appear before the returns

The national setback in the New Deal recovery program resulted in an especially hard winter for the union's members, and there is heavy correspondence between STFU leaders and both state and Federal agencies seeking help for poverty-stricken families. In conjunction with this effort, the STFU undertook several surveys to determine the extent of the need for relief, including a survey of evictions (15) and a survey of union members refused WPA work relief (appears at the end of the month). Mitchell travelled to Washington with the preliminary results of the 1937 survey (see folder 225 above) in hand and reported on his trip to Butler (4 and 5). Internal dissension developed within the union, both in Oklahoma and Arkansas. The Oklahoma State Executive Committee listed its complaints (13) and Mitchell tried to straighten things out by correspondence with Odis Sweeden (14 to 16) and by a visit to a special STFU meeting on unemployment in Oklahoma (23 and 24). Late in the month, a group in Cross County, Arkansas formed the wild-cat "Arkansas Agricultural and Labor Association" and J.R. Butler responded with a hard-hitting circular letter to all STFU locals (28). There is also a summary of per capita tax paid to UCAPAWA by the STFU from October to December, 1937 (1); a "report to the International Executive Board, UCAPAWA" from Donald Henderson (18); and a copy of a letter from Barney Egan to his fellow CIO leader John Brophy on trouble between the Texas Pecan Shellers Union and UCAPAWA (26)

Papers related to the 4th Annual Convention, held at Little Rock, Ark., from Feb. 25 to 27, include: the call and applications for delegates' credentials; instructions to the delegates; the convention program; STFU Constitution and By-Laws as revised by the convention; a typescript of the convention proceedings; "The Southern Tenant Farmers' Union in 1937", a report by H.L. Mitchell; and "One Bread, One Body", a play in three scenes by Lee Hays and Dan Burnett. All of these items are filed under the date of Feb. 25. In addition to the correspondence concerning the convention, there is a frequent exchange of letters between the STFU and Harriet Young of the WDL, planning for National Sharecroppers Week. There is some discussion of the Cross County wild-cat movement at the beginning of the month, including a detailed report from local leader Myrtle Lawrence (7). A new problem developed in Jefferson County, Ark., where STFU officials Claude Williams, Leon Turner, and E.B. McKinney attempted to reorganize the union in violation of STFU procedure. In this connection, see especially the report from J.W. Dillard (13) and Mitchell to Leon Turner (28). Finally, there is a reply from WPA on STFU complaints of union members refused relief work (24) and documents concerning three union members in the FSA program evicted from their homes (23)

National Sharecroppers Week was held from March 6 to 13; papers relating to it include a WDL leaflet (6), a report from Butler to Harriet Young on his NSW trip to the Mid-west (17), and a statement of receipts and disbursements from the WDL (29). Trouble continued in Jefferson County, and Ark. organizer D.A. Griffin reported on it at length (28). The STFU sent a copy of an anti-war resolution passed at its convention to a number of US Senators (24) and several replied (29 and 30). Other items of interest include: two press releases on the Texas Pecan Shellers Union strike in San Antonio (2, 19); two letters from Mitchell to organizers Steve Lucas and Fred Matthews on the status of the union in Mississippi and Texas, respectively (9,20); a dispute between Mitchell and Donald Henderson over dues payments (19, 23); correspondence with Harriet Young on a proposed WDL campaign against peonage (25 to 28); a long letter from lawyer C.A. Stanfield reviewing the various legal cases pending for the union (29); Mitchell to Secretary of Agriculture Henry A. Wallace, complaining about planter violations of the 1938 cotton control program (30); and Evelyn Smith to Donald Henderson, explaining why all letters sent to STFU members must be mailed in plain envelopes without any use of titles in the address (2).

The tensions between the STFU and UCAPAWA intensified into a full-scale battle during April and May, with key STFU leaders determined to take their organization out of the International. One can trace this development in the papers, beginning with the call for an emergency meeting of the NEC (18), and continuing with the Minutes of the Convention of the Oklahoma STFU, which passed a special resolution on affiliation with UCAPAWA (23). There is a 2-page typescript, giving a brief history of the relations between the STFU and UCAPAWA (25), apparently related to the NEC emergency session, for which full Minutes appear (25). Finally, there is an incomplete set of Minutes of the International Executive Board meeting marked "Not Released" (29). Complaints to WPA over the work relief program continued (5, 14), and the agency replied to one earlier STFU complaint (19). Mitchell also telegrammed Secretary Henry A. Wallace again about the unfair cotton contracts circulating in the Delta (4), and Sam Franklin at the DCF sent the union further information on these contracts (7)

The fight with UCAPAWA began to heat up, and the reader may follow its progress through the letters which Mitchell wrote to his friends and allies, keeping them informed of events and outlining strategy. Other documents relating to the split include: a mimeographed letter to STFU locals, explaining the conflict with UCAPAWA (11; note: page 2 of this letter is missing); Minutes of a special NEC meeting which voted to withdraw from the International (21); "An Open Letter to the American Labor Movement....", announcing the NEC vote (21); a mimeographed letter from Henderson to STFU locals, enclosing an incomplete set of minutes for the UCAPAWA Board meeting (23); and Mitchell to Henderson, complaining that the minutes are incomplete (30). In addition to the materials on the split with UCAPAWA, there are a few items which shed light on the situation in Jefferson County, where trouble broke out in February (2,13). Finally, there is a copy of a "Statement to the Worker's Defense League" from _Millie Sue Blagden, informing them that she is dropping her celebrated flogging case and joining the Communist Party (20)

STFU leaders met with Henderson in Washington at the beginning of the month to iron out their differences. Henderson sent the union his understanding of the agreement finally reached (4), but Mitchell reported on the status of the negotiations to the members of the NEC (8), and, when the problems were settled, he sent out a circular letter to all STFU locals explaining that the STFU would retain its affiliation with UCAPAWA (27). Henderson's reply to Mitchell's complaints appears on July 29. The union continued to document cases of peonage in Arkansas by collecting affidavits (6,18,19,23); letters to the WDL supply additional information on the investigation (7,24). Two STFU projects got underway during June: A YM-YWCA project to bring students, both white and black, into Arkansas to give them firsthand knowledge of the lives of sharecroppers, and a project to organize the "Friends of the STFU" as part of the union's fund-raising effort

Mitchell represented the STFU on the President's National Emergency Council in Washington; the papers include his statement (5) and a report to Butler on his trip (6). Two weeks later, a letter went out to members of the NEC informing them that black STFU Vice-President E.B. McKinney was attempting to split the union along racial lines (18). McKinney, writing to Wiley Harris, a black organizer, claimed on the contrary that white leaders had no concern for the welfare of black members (29). Mitchell wrote two long letters to Gardner Jackson, one giving an account of the battle with UCAPAWA (9) and the other on plans to organize a chapter of Labor's Non-Partisan League in Arkansas (18). Odis Sweeden voiced the complaints of the Oklahoma STFU against Memphis Headquarters in two detailed letters (22 and 23). Finally, there is a mimeographed letter from Mitchell to all locals on preparing for the upcoming primary elections (n.d. [July, 1938])

The most important document to appear in the papers for August is a 4-page typewritten memorandum laying plans for a Communist take-over of the STFU, which was found by J.R. Butler in Claude Williams' coat-pocket (22). Butler wrote Williams immediately, asking him to resign from the NEC (22). Williams replied to Butler's charges directly (25), and Donald G. Kobler, secretary of Commonwealth College, took up Williams' defense in a circular letter (31). The papers include letters commenting on the Williams case from Norman Thomas (26), Socialist Party activist Ernest Morgan (29), and Jay Lovestone (31). Butler also wrote E.B. McKinney, detailing the charges against him which the next NEC meeting would consider (27) and McKinney replied to Butler's claims (31). Other items of special interest include: David Griffin, STFU Organizer for Arkansas, to WPA Administrator Harry Hopkins, charging that the promise Hopkins made in a Memphis speech of August 5 to hire 200,000 unemployed Southern workers on WPA was not being kept (20); a report from organizer F.R. Betton on the situation in Jefferson County, Ark. (13), and Butler to M.W. Jones, a Mississippi planter who asked the union to supply him with cotton pickers (16).

Claude Williams was "tried" before a meeting of the NEC on Sept. 16 and 17; four different copies of the minutes appear in the papers (a summary version, a typed copy, a handwritten copy, and a mimeographed copy of the trial portion of the meeting), as well as two press releases on the case (16, 17). See also a letter from J. Austin Beasley, a UCAPAWA official from Colorado, protesting the treatment of Williams (18) and Butler's reply (20). In a letter to all locals, Mitchell announced a "Stay Out of the Fields" strike to demand $1.00 per hundred for cotton picking (19). Other items relating to the strike include: an appeal to the friends of the union for strike funds (20); returns from an STFU survey of wages paid on various plantations and of the number of workers on strike (24); and a press release announcing the end of the strike (Oct. 1)

During the September strike, five STFU members distributing strike leaflets in Mississippi County, Arkansas were arrested for "Night-Riding"; on this case, see Butler to the ACLU (6) and the correspondence from two of the members arrested, Martha Williams (11,31) and Louis Johnson (28, 30, n.d. [Oct.]). In a related case, a union meeting in Coy, Arkansas was disrupted by violence; see the report from local secretary Martha Hayes (10). A major dispute developed with UCAPAWA when Donald Henderson sent a circular letter to all STFU locals, informing them that the STFU would not receive any representation at the UCAPAWA annual convention because of arrears in dues payments (5). For further information on this matter, see Butler's letters to Henderson negotiated an agreement, the substance of which appears in Mitchell's letter to STFU locals (26). There is also a descriptive index of all correspondence between the STFU and UCAPAWA from Jan. 1 to Oct. 20, 1938, prepared to aid Mitchell in his negotiations (20). Lastly, the papers include considerable correspondence with the WDL about legal cases and plans for NSW, as well as a letter from Butler to Mitchell detailing the problems with Odis Sweeden and the Oklahoma STFU (17)

A major topic during this month is the letter sent out by three former STFU officials -- Claude Williams, E.B. McKinney, and W.L. Blackstone -- protesting their expulsion from the union and enclosing a mimeographed ten-point program for the union (1,12). There is an exchange between Butler and Henderson in which Henderson agreed to stay neutral in the Williams dispute (1,7). There is further correspondence with the WDL on the "Night-Riding" cases (1,4,7) and with UCAPAWA officials over the agreement for paying back dues (1,12,14,30). The Southern Conference for Human Welfare met in Birmingham on November 20 to 23; the papers include the program, a printed copy of the Proceedings, and a press release on labor's role in the Conference (20). Lastly, there is a report on an STFU-inspired "Buyer's Club" (Consumer Cooperative) at Blytheville, Ark. (11)

Two conventions in one month kept the STFU membership busy during December. The UCAPAWA convention was held in San Francisco on December 12 to 16; the papers include Henderson's report to the convention (12), reports from UCAPAWA Districts 1, 2, 5, 7, and 9 (12), a resolution introduced by the STFU delegates (12), and two letters from Mitchell to Evelyn Smith describing the fate of the STFU resolution (13, 15). The STFU Fifth Annual Convention met at Cotton Plant, Arkansas on December 29 to January 1; the papers include a letter from Butler to all delegates, urging them to ignore rumors of danger at Cotton Plant (24); the program, President's Report, minutes (apparently incomplete), a mimeographed copy of the Proceedings, and a report from the STFU delegation to the UCAPAWA convention in San Francisco (29). In other matters, there is an apology and a request for reinstatement addressed to the NEC by E.B. McKinney (5), and a brief letter from Missouri organizer O.H. Whitfield warning Mitchell that 900 families facing eviction on January 1, planned to encamp on a local highway (1)

Affidavit of Charlie Kelley, held in peonage near Helena, Ark.; "The Condition of Farm Labor on Cotton Plantations in the South and Southwest in 1938", a 3-page typewritten report; Report to the National Executive Committees of the WDL and STFU on the relationship between the two organizations; "Per Capita Payments Made by STFU Texas locals prior to Formation of Texas District"; complete lists of STFU locals in Mississippi, Arkansas, and Missouri; "Suggestions for Organizing Farm Workers Unions in California", by J.B. Nathan, "Rebel Arts Songbook"; "Told by the Sharecroppers", two pages of excerpts from stories told by STFU organizers.

Folders 321 to 323 -- Not Filmed. Folder 324 -- Local Secretary's Reports (approx. ten items). Folder 325 -- Monthly Reports of Membership and Fees + attached correspondence (approx. two hundred items in rough chronological order). Note: Throughout 1938, local secretaries were required to file these reports in duplicate. The duplicates, however, have been removed from this folder and were not filmed. Folders 326 to 327 -- Not Filmed

[Note: Monthly reports from local secretaries are filed in the main chronological series throughout 1939. In all other years, these items will be found in the "Miscellaneous Union Business" section.] On Jan. 1, 1700 sharecroppers evicted from their homes encamped on a US highway near Sikeston, Mo. Many of the refugees were STFU members and the demonstration was led by STFU Second Vice-President O.H. Whitfield. . The reader may follow the progress of the demonstration in a flood of telegrams sent and received by union headquarters throughout the month, in two STFU press releases (14,23), in reports from F.R. Betton (24) and Kester (27), and in letters from a few of the evicted sharecroppers (24,26). See also copies of letters from Albert Jackson (alias "Al Murphy"), a Communist organizer in St. Louis, concerning the demonstration (9, 18), an exchange of telegrams between the STFU and the CIO, requesting the latter to help prevent Jackson from taking over (17), and a 4-page report to the NEC on the situation from the STFU field staff in Mo. (21). A 3-page letter from Donald Henderson, requesting that all dues be paid directly to UCAPAWA (28) elicited a stern letter to all STFU locals ordering them to continue to send dues payments to Memphis (31)

Two issues, the Missouri Highway demonstration and the battle with UCAPAWA over STFU autonomy, continued to dominate the correspondence during February. There are a number of important letters throughout the month by and about O.H. Whitfield, who shifted his support from the STFU to UCAPAWA. The papers include reports on the situation in Missouri from organizers F.R. Betton (8, 18) and J.F. Moore (12), as well as a flood of letters from the evicted sharecroppers themselves. One letter from Mitchell to Jack Herling gives especially detailed information on the situation (10). The correspondence also concerns the union's efforts to obtain relief for the demonstrators from Northern contributors and the FSA; in this connection, see the Financial Statement for the Southeast Missouri Relief Fund, which contains a list of contributors (18), and a letter from R.C. Smith, Regional Director of FSA, on his agency's efforts (27). Papers related to the UCAPAWA fight appear throughout the month and include: letters from Donald Henderson to STFU organizers, (23); a four-page mimeographed "Analysis of UCAPAWA" apparently prepared by the STFU (14); a letter from Gardner Jackson, advising Mitchell to comply with Henderson's various requests (21); and approximately 30 returns to an STFU questionnaire on the status and condition of all locals (17).

The STFU withdrew from UCAPAWA on March 12, and virtually all of the papers for March have to do with the split. A chronology of the correspondence and events leading up to the withdrawal is especially helpful (11). Returns from a membership referendum on withdrawal appear throughout the month. Advice poured in from friends of the union, including Ward Rodgers (3), Howard Kester (3), Gardner Jackson (13,31), Matthew Woll, Third Vice-President of the AF of L (29), and from two AF of L leaders in Texas and California who complained of Communism in the CIO (18, 22). John Brophy, Director of the CIO, attempted to mediate, but his efforts proved of no avail (8 to 11). Three letters from Mitchell are of special interest, one to Butler outlining strategy (3), one to Lucy Randolph Mason stating that the STFU had no quarrel with the CIO itself (30), and a five-page letter to The Nation explaining the STFU side of the controversy (30). Donald Henderson held a special convention in St. Louis to reorganize the Missouri STFU and Joyce Crawford reported on it at length (13). Odis Sweeden reorganized the Oklahoma STFU into the Oklahoma Tenant Farmers Union; the papers include the Constitution and the program adopted at Sweeden's convention (19). The STFU held its own special convention in Memphis on March 19; although the resolutions adopted there do appear (19) there is no record of the Proceedings in the papers. To protect NSW from UCAPAWA, Mitchell and Harriet Young decided to set it up as a non-profit corporation; the papers include the legal forms for incorporation (14, 15, 17)

Donald Henderson held a UCAPAWA convention in Memphis on April 2; the papers include a UCAPAWA handbill and an STFU press release on Mitchell's walk-out from the convention (2). Other items related directly to the feud with Henderson include an injunction obtained by the STFU to prevent UCAPAWA from organizing under the STFU's name (5), as well as two long letters from Mitchell to Gardner Jackson and Norman Thomas (3, 10). The Oklahoma STFU was especially weakened by the split; efforts to rebuild it can be traced in field reports from W.R. Purcells and Guy Thomas (1,2,30), as well as in Mitchell's report from Okla. of April 21. The Delta Cooperative Farm hosted a Southern Socialist Conference on April 7 to 9; related items include a mimeographed report on the conference (7) and a long letter from Norman Thomas to the Conference on building the Socialist Party in the South (5). Two union members were beaten by Sheriff's Deputies at Crawfordsville, Ark., on April 15; there is heavy correspondence relating to this outbreak of violence during the remainder of the month, but see especially the affidavits of the victims (24). Correspondence concerning NSW appears throughout the month and includes the Final Financial Statement for 1939 (28). There are a number of replies from the FSA to STFU complaints (20,21,27), and there is scattered correspondence about the union's search for a new Educational Director

The work of repairing the union continued during May. Butler prepared an analysis of STFU locals, which unfortunately does not appear in the papers; however, see the covering letters to organizers D.A. Griffin and J.F. Hynds which discuss ways of reviving the locals (8), and Mitchell to Blaine Treadway on the same subject (9). Reports on the rebuilding effort in Oklahoma arrived from W.R. Purcells (13) and Guy Thomas (13, 28). Butler tried to persuade Kester declined, citing his many obligations (10). The union attempted to pressure Prosecuting Attorney Bruce Ivy to investigate the violence at Crawfordsville, but Ivy proved evasive (13,16,26). Also of special interest are two letters from J.E. Clayton on his plan to purchase the Lowden plantation near Gould, Ark. to resettle black sharecroppers (4,6,and June 9) and two long letters from J.C. Thompson, a Louisiana Socialist, commenting on the recent Southern Socialist Conference (15 and June 1). The NEC met on May 13, but no minutes appear

An exchange of lengthy letters between J.R. Butler and David Clendenin, Secretary-Treasurer of the WDL, covers the main issues which arose during the month (7,9, 14,26). One of those issues was arranging bail for Louis Johnson, a defendant in the "Night-Riding" case which first arose in October, 1938; the papers include a letter from Johnson (17) and a memorandum on the case (n.d. [June, 1939]). Another major issue was a request from the Farm Workers' Allied Union, which had started organizing in the San Joaquin Valley in California, for affiliation with the STFU (19, 23, 28); see especially a report on the new union from J.B. Nathan in San Francisco (28). The NEC met on June 28 and decided to arrange mass meetings throughout STFU territory in hopes of reviving the union; letters to local secretaries arranging such meetings appear during the last three days of June.

Mitchell and F.R. Betton attended a conference in Mexico, called by Clarence Senior, to study the experiment in cooperative farming underway in the Laguna Region; the papers include a prospectus on the conference and a seven-page mimeographed report by the STFU delegation (6). There is also an extensive report from Priscilla Robertson, a friend of the union, on the Poplar Bluff camp in Missouri (5). The STFU initiated a workers' education project during July; one may follow its progress through the correspondence of Blaine Treadway, STFU Education Director. Toward the end of the month, there is a letter from the National Federation of Colored Farmers, turning down an STFU offer for affiliation (26), and a letter from Mitchell to former CIO official Barney Egan on reorganizing the STFU in Texas (26)

With Mitchell working full-time for the National Youth Administration in North Carolina, three members of the NEC wrote Butler suggesting that Mitchell resign as STFU Secretary. Butler informed Mitchell about this and other recent developments (9, 12, 16), but Mitchell refused to resign 914,15). See also F.R. Betton's comments on the dispute (26). A bitter personal controversy arose among the STFU organizers in Oklahoma; one can follow it in the letters of Henry Pippin, Guy Thomas, and W.R. Purcells. Also, in relation to Oklahoma, there are no less than seven letters from former state President Odis L. Sweeden asking Butler to rehire him as an organizer. Butler wrote all locals, asking them to fill out a questionnaire form on the desirability of holding a wage scale conference; Butler also wrote Mitchell on the same day explaining why he opposed such a conference (14). Other items of special interest include: Blaine Treadway to the Farm Workers' Allied Union on possible affiliation (8); and the typescript of a magazine article "Recent Activities of the STFU" by Butler (13)

Union member in Southeast Missouri were eager to stage a cotton-pickers' strike, but the STFU leadership decided against it. The reader may follow the debate in the heavy correspondence between headquarters and the STFU field staff (13 to 22), and in two long letters the STFU field staff (13 to 22), and in two long letters explaining the decision against the strike by Butler (22) and Blaine Treadway (23). The NEC met on Sept. 9; the papers include the "opening Remarks", presumably by Butler (9), and the resolutions passed by the Council (10), but the minutes do not appear. Finally, there is a copy of the Constitution of the Farm Workers Allied Union of California (7), and a communication from Frank McCallister on the possibility of arranging a separate CIO character for the STFU (5).

Most of the correspondence this month deals with fund-raising, especially NSW, and with the attempt to reactivate locals. Items of special interest include: "An Open Letter to Friends of the STFU", an 8-page mimeographed statement on the split with UCAPAWA (1); F.R. Betton to the Chicago Defender and the Pittsburg Courier, asking for help in fund-raising and publicity (11, 12); a letter from Butler to inactive locals (20); Butler to J.B. Nathan on the NEC's decision concerning the Farm Workers' Allied Union (23); STFU lawyer Claude Cooper to Butler, on the trial of Louis Johnson (24); affidavit of Henry Johnson, a 77-year old black man forced to leave his town at gunpoint by a Deputy Sheriff (28); and reports on the convention of the National Federation of Colored Farmers from F.R. Betton and D.A. Griffin (31 and Nov. 3)

Butler, in a mimeographed letter to all union members dated October 26, gave instructions for a campaign to get STFU representatives elected to AAA county committees. When George Mayberry, a black organizer at Mashulaville, Miss., tried to obtain information about the elections from Noxubee County officials, he was kidnapped, beaten, and run out of town. The papers concerning the case, which run from Nov. 22 onward, include a letter from Mayberry to the union, asking for help (23), Mayberry's affidavit (29), and a long letter from Butler to Secretary of Agriculture Henry A. Wallace on the case (25). Another issue developed around Poplar Bluff encampment in Missouri, where several hundred sharecropper families who had participated in the highway demonstration the previous winter were living under wretched conditions. Harriet Young warned the union of a Communist attempt to start a relief campaign (9), advice for an STFU counteroffensive came from the WDL (13) and Norman Thomas (20), and the union arranged a meeting with FSA Administrator Will Alexander to secure government help (27 to 31). For a report on the overall situation in Missouri, see Butler to Isaac Wells (17). Finally, there are daily reports from F.R. Betton during his organizing trip in Mississippi (14 to 17)

Further items relating to the Poplar Bluff camp include a letter from Butler to Josephine Smoot, detailing the efforts being made for the refugees (11) and an STFU press release on the projected FSA program (20). There are replies from two Department of Agriculture officials to union complaints in the Mayberry case, both promising that all AAA county elections will be well-publicized in the future (6, 13). There is an especially important exchange of letters between Mitchell and James E. Sidel, Field Director of the National Child Labor Committee, concerning Donald Henderson's attempt to form a "National Council to Aid Agricultural Workers" in competition with NSW (11, 15). Preparations for the Annual Convention and for NSW, including the hiring of Pauli Murray as Secretary of NSW, occupy much of the correspondence. There is a draft of a revised STFU Constitution, apparently written by A. James McDonald, who sent Butler a long letter concerning the document (15, 27). Lastly, a four-page letter from D. William R. Amberson appears, urging financial austerity and self-sufficiency for the STFU (29)

Correspondence and telegrams concerning the Missouri highway demonstration and the battle with UCAPAWA; telegram to FSA Administrator Will. W. Alexander on the Poplar Bluff encampment; Report on the "Status of Negro Schools in Mississippi, 1939"; letters from Kester and Frank W. McCulloch

The Sixth Annual STFU Convention met at Blytheville, Ark. From Jan 5 to 7; the papers include: the Annual Financial Report for 1939; Revised STFU Constitution; Proceedings; STFU Legislative Program for 1940; and "Resolutions Adopted". NEC minutes appear both before and after the Convention (4, 8). Further evictions of share-croppers in Missouri led Governor Lloyd Stark to form a "Southeast Missouri Landowners-Tenants-Sharecroppers Conference". The STFU, through correspondence with the Governor and Bishop Billiam Scarlett of St. Louis, successfully sought representation on the committee (3,10,18,20). There is also much correspondence with Missouri locals and with the FSA on the plight of the evicted families, including an outline of the FSA's five-point program for meeting the crisis (16). Members of the STFU local at the Dyess Colony in Arkansas complained to the union about the project's management, and the STFU got FSA Administrator Will Alexander to begin an investigation (13, 19, 23, 25). Complaints also came from the Delta Cooperative Farm; see Kester to Butler about the Trustees' plans to investigate (19). Lastly, there is a report on the status of the educational program by STFU Education Director Evelyn Smith (31)

Items related to the Dyess Colony investigation include two reports from Floyd Slayton, Secretary of the Dyess local (6, 14) and a list of grievances submitted to the FSA (22). There is an exchange of correspondence between Kester, Butler, and Blaine Treadway on the Delta Cooperative Farm inquiry. The reader may follow developments in Southeast Missouri through the correspondence with Jewel Mayes, the Chairman of Gov. Stark's special commission (5,9,10), through reports on the situation from STFU organizers W.M. Tanner and D.A. Griffin (12, 13, 20), and through a report from the Missouri State Employment Service based on its own report survey (13). There are several lengthy letters to and from Pauli Murray concerning plans for NSW, as well as one from Morris Milgram of the WDL to Butler on raising funds in Hollywood (21). The STFU sent a delegation to Washington from Feb. 29 to March 1 for a variety of purposes; the papers include the delegation's schedule (March 1) and materials relating to the delegation's appearance before the Senate Sub-Committee on Agriculture (27, March 1). Gardner Jackson sent out a letter to all sponsors of NSW, asking them to support UCAPAWA instead (24); Mitchell, Walter White, and Benjamin Marsh of The People's Lobby all replied immediately (27, 28). Final items of special interest are: a memorandum from Mitchell to the CIO, entitled "An Organizing Committee for Migratory Workers" (10); and To Establish Justice: Sharecroppers Under Planters Law, a booklet by Howard Kester (8)

National Sharecroppers Week was held from March 4 to 10; papers relating to it include: the schedule of events and speakers (1); mimeographed instructions to local sponsors (4); reports on NSW in Los Angeles from Mary E. Gallagher (12,23); and reports on UCAPAWA efforts to disrupt NSW from Alfred Baker Lewis (18), William R. Amberson (19), and Purnell Benson (19). There is an exchange of correspondence between Gardner Jackson and Frank Crosswaith, head of the Negro Labor Committee, concerning Jackson's Feb. 24 letter to NSW sponsors (5,8,15,18). A dispute arose between Mitchell and Arthur G. McDowell, Labor Secretary of the Socialist Party, concerning Mitchell's negotiations with Lee Pressman of the CIO about possible STFU affiliation (7 to 27). At the end of the month, reports of racial violence arrived from Mississippi and the union lodged a complaint with the Justice Department (28); an affidavit from one of the victims of the violence appears on April 4

Investigations into complaints from union members at the Dyess Colony and the Delta Cooperative Farm was a major topic of correspondence in April. On the DCF inquiry, see especially Blaine Treadway to the DCF local (6); on the Dyess situation, see the reports from Floyd Slayton (March 19, 4, 6, 9) and Butler's letter to the Dyess local (23). The union sent a delegation to a convention of the Southern Conference for Human Welfare; the papers include the call, a "confidential report" by SP Southern Secretary Frank McCallister, and a report by STFU organizer D.A> Griffin (14). Finally, there is a "Memorandum to Sponsors and Friends" of NSW on the UCAPAWA attempt at sabotage (3).

May was a month of rebuilding for the union. Letters went out to all state organizers, commenting on the problems in their respective states (1). The DCF investigating committee met on May 10 and issued a report (11). There is an especially interesting exchange of letters between Mitchell and Butler, with Mitchell insisting upon a campaign to organize migrant workers as a means of reviving the union (14, 17, 23, 25); see also Mitchell's attempt to write a life history of a migrant worker 921). Two letters appear from Constance Rumbough, Southern Secretary of the Fellowship of Reconciliation, on initiating a campaign against the poll tax in Tennessee (6, 10).

Reports arrived from W. M. Tanner and others in Missouri that the WPA was laying off workers to aid planters in obtaining cotton choppers at a lower wage; see especially Tanner's affidavit on the matter (6). Reports from locals in Mississippi are especially plentiful this month. Beginning in June, a monthly listing of "Amounts Remitted by STFU Locals" appears along with the monthly financial statement; these lists provide a good picture of the strength and geographical distribution of the union

Mitchell began to press upon his fellow STFU leaders a plan to secure affiliation with the AF of L. In this connection, see his memorandum to David Dubinsky, President of the ILGWU, on organizing agricultural workers (June 24), and his memorandum to the AF of L (n.d. [July, 1940]), his letters to Butler and Blaine Treadway reporting on his negotiations with AF of L officials and the minutes of the NEC meeting which decided to go ahead with Mitchell's proposal (20). Other items of special interest include: minutes of a hearing held by WPA to investigate the STFU's complaint against WPA officials in Pemiscot County, Missouri (3), and an exchange between Mitchell and Butler on the conscription bill then before Congress (27, 28)

A dispute arose between Mitchell and Butler on the question of AF of L affiliation. Mitchell wished to create a new AF of L International, with which the STFU would, in turn, affiliate; Butler wanted direct affiliation. The merits of the two proposals were debated in the correspondence throughout the month until the NEC met in special session (31). The NEC also gave considerable attention to the problems at the Delta and Providence Cooperative Farms. Another issue of equal prominence in the August correspondence was the case of Robert L. Moore, a Missouri STFU organizer accused of accepting money from politicians, including those backing Senator Harry S. Truman, on the promise of swinging the union vote; see the minutes of Moore's trial before the Missouri County Central Council (Sept. 8). Finally, there are copies of statements before the House Committee on Interstate Migration by Mitchell, Brooks Hayes, John D. Rust, and Rupert B. Vance (14)

Discussion continued on the bid for AF of L affiliation; see especially the exchange between Mitchell and Butler (7, 17) and Butler's letters to the STFU locals (4, 12). The NEC sent a long letter to the Trustees of the Cooperative Farms, claiming that the recent investigation did not deal with the true grievances of union members on the farms (20)

The AF of L turned down the STFU proposal for affiliation; see the letter from AF of L President William Green, explaining the decision (23). In the wake of this development, the NEC met in special session on October 13; the full minutes reveal the confusion and desperation of the STFU leaders. A major topic toward the end of the month was the activities of O.H. Whitfield, the former STFU organizer who was reported to be stirring up racial hatred in Missouri and Texas for the benefit of a UCAPAWA organizing drive. On Whitfield, see especially J.E. Clayton's reports from Texas (18,31) and Butler's letters to W.M. Tanner and F.R. Betton on stopping Whitfield in Missouri (25, 29).

There is an interesting exchange between Butler and Mitchell on Butler's proposal for bringing agricultural workers under the NLRB (Nov. 4,7). The only other issue of special interest is a campaign by the WDL to abolish the Virginia poll tax and to free Odell Waller, a black Virginia sharecropper sentenced to death for the murder of his landlord. The papers include various leaflets and WDL press releases on the Waller case (Nov. 9, 15; Dec. 18, 21), as well as a letter from WDL staff member Pauli Murray (Nov. 27). Pauli Murray also wrote about the case of Isaac Mosely, a black Missouri sharecropper serving a life sentence for killing his riding boss (Dec. 17)

Childhood Days, a 15-page typewritten account of his childhood and early career by H.L. Mitchell; a press release on the STFU memorandum to the FSA on the Poplar Bluff encampment; a memorandum to the Finance Committee of the ILGWU from J.R. Butler; legal papers relating to the Dyess Colony, including the articles of incorporation for both Dyess and the Missco Homestead Association; memorandum from J.L. Cummins to Brooks Hays on the mismanagement of Missco Homestead; STFU statement, probably to a Congressional committee, on increased appropriations for the NYA; letter of instructions to new organizers; "The Southern Tenant Farmers Union -- 1940", a booklet by J.R. Butler and Howard Kester; "Suggestions for Organizing Junior Locals of the STFU"; STFU Song Book

Folder 542 -- Complaints to the AAA. Folder 543 -- Materials written for the STFU Educational Program. Includes primarily instructional booklets written by Evelyn Smith. Folder 554 -- Testimony of various public figures before the House Committee on the Interstate Migration, Oklahoma City, Okla., Sept. 19 and 20, 1940. No STFU representatives appeared. Folder 557 -- Not Filmed. Folder 558 -- Returns from the 1940 Crop Survey. Folder 559 -- List of members in good standing as reported by the locals, Jan. 1, 1940. Folder 560 -- Monthly reports from local secretaries.

Folder 561 -- Reports from organizer J.F. Hynds in Arkansas. Folder 562 -- Reports from organizer W.M. Tanner in Missouri and Arkansas, and one report from D.A. Griffin in Arkansas. Folder 563 -- Reports of County Secretaries from Pemiscot County, Missouri, and Woodruff County, Arkansas. Folder 564 -- Not Filmed

The union's correspondence for January primarily concerns the Seventh Annual STFU Convention held at Little Rock on Jan. 31 to Feb. 2. The convention papers, all filed at Jan. 31, include: the Annual Financial Report for 1940, President's and Secretary's Report, Vice-President's report by F.R. Betton, "Put the Man of the Land Back on the Land: A New Policy and Program for the STFU" by H.L. Mitchell, and the Proceedings. The convention was supposed to meet in Memphis, but was shifted to Little Rock due to racial tensions, as Butler explained to F.R. Betton (1). Kester's relationship for the STFU became an important issue during the month; see Mitchell's report to Butler on his conversation with Kester (9) and Kester's three-page letter to Butler, setting forth his views on the union (28). Finally, a dispute arose between Butler and the NSW policy committee, with Butler claiming that the committee was trying to control the union's affairs (2,10,16)

A furor arose over a statement Mitchell made at the convention that "There is no basis for trade-unionism in Southern agriculture". Butler claimed that Mitchell was trying to turn a legitimate union into a crusade and threatened to resign if Mitchell did not retract his speech. On the dispute, the papers include a statement by Butler and a statement apparently written by Mitchell (9 -- note: it is not clear whether Mitchell's statement was read at the Feb. 9 or the Jan. 30 NEC meeting), the minutes of the NEC meeting which adjudicated the matter (9), and a press release which reported that Mitchell had repudiated his convention speech (10). The rift led Kester to submit his letter of resignation from the STFU (27); see also Butler's reply to Kester (March 13). The other major topic in the February correspondence is the matter of arrangements for NSW

National Sharecroppers Week was held on March 2 to 9; the papers include a good deal of correspondence about travel arrangements, etc. NSW was a great success, but the STFU leaders and the NSW Policy Committee in New York over whether the proceeds would be sent in 12 monthly installments, or as the union requested them (27 to 30). In addition to NSW, there is a series of letters from William L. Harris, County Agent of Hartford County, Conn., on the matter of providing temporary employment for approximately 500 STFU members in the Connecticut tobacco fields (5, 12, 21).

The dispute over NSW continued and resulted in the decision to form a permanent "National Sharecroppers Committee" , independent of the WDL, to raise money for the STFU and other sharecropper causes. The key documents include: a report from Betton and Mitchell on their negotiations with the NSW Policy Committee (11), minutes of the NEC meeting which took up the question (19), and an exchange of correspondence between Mitchell and Harold L. Oram on setting up the new committee (22, 25, 29). The union also began a campaign to amend the Agricultural Adjustment Act to ensure a minimum wage for farm labor; see the STFU memorandum on this subject (16) and Mitchell's correspondence with AF of L officials asking for their support (28). Finally, a letter from Mitchell to Kester provides considerable information on the status of the union's organizing drive (27)

The effort to obtain a minimum wage for farm workers went into high gear. See the STFU press release on the campaign, including a copy of the bill as introduced by Senator William Langer of North Dakota and a three-page statement by Mitchell (2). There is a four-page letter from Butler to Secretary of Agriculture Claude R. Wickard, trying to convince him to incorporate the measure into his own legislative program (16), as well as correspondence on the bill from Congressman Jerry Voorhis of California (April 30, 19, 27), Frank McCallister (20), and Benjamin Marsh, Executive Secretary of The People's Lobby (April 30, 2, 6, 8)

The Farm Security Administration, under attack from the Farm Bureau, became highly receptive to the idea of cooperating with the STFU on organizing drives in northern Alabama and other areas. Mitchell moved quickly to exploit the opportunity; see his letters to FSA officials (16) and his detailed explanation of the situation to Norman Thomas (25). For further information on the organizing drive, see Mitchell's repots to Butler on his trip to Alabama, Texas, and Oklahoma (18,22) and Butler's summary report to the NEC (26). Correspondence continued between Mitchell and Harold L. Oram on the matter of selecting a chairman for the projected National Sharecroppers Committee. Sam Franklin wrote from the DCF to express his pique at the STFU's recent investigation of the co-op farms (25), and J.E. Clayton wrote on the campaign of his friend Lyndon B. Johnson for the U.S. Senate (30).

The NEC met on July 11 and 12; the papers include the agenda, minutes, proposed budget, and a report by Mitchell on "Cooperation with the FSA" (11). In addition, there are reports to the NEC on the STFU organizing drive from Odis Sweeden in Oklahoma (3), Noah P. Graham in Missouri (8), W.M. Tanner in Missouri (9), John Alford in Arkansas (11), and from J.E. Clayton in Texas and Missouri (12). Plans for cooperation with the FSA continued to develop; see FSA Administrator C. B. Baldwin to his Regional Directors on the subject (2), as well as Mitchell's letters to Alabama FSA officials (18) and to Clayton and Betton (31). Other items of special interest include: correspondence with J.D. Overholt, who decided to donate $5,000 to the union (6,19,31); a speech by Hugh L. Gray, President of the planters-oriented Delta Council, replying to a recent radio address by Mitchell (18), and Butler to Walter White of the NAACP, asking him to join the union in its attempt to save Edmondson, Ark., an all-black town threatened with destruction by the surrounding white planters (18). For further information on the Edmondson case, see the correspondence of lawyer K.T. Sutton throughout 1941.

In August and September, organizers F. R. Betton and J.E. Clayton began sending carbon copies of all their correspondence to headquarters. Taken together, the materials they sent provide a detailed picture of STFU efforts to aid and organize the black community. There is much correspondence on the organizing drive in northern Alabama; see especially Mitchell's memoranda on Alabama organizing (4,19) and reports from organizer W.M. Tanner. Mitchell also spoke with FSA and AAA officials in Little Rock about similar cooperation in Arkansas and reported on his conversations to Butler (20) and Betton (21). Finally, there is a survey of food prices paid by STFU members, compiled by the Office of Price Administration (8)

Mitchell wrote Dr. George S. Mitchell at the FSA that the National Farmers Union and the STFU had worked out an organizing agreement (2), but James G. Patton, President of the Farmers Union, heatedly denied the STFU claim (9). Clayton and Betton pursued their long-standing dream of purchasing the Lowdon plantation near Gould, Ark. for the purpose of resettling black tenant farmers after J.D. Overholt offered them $5,000 for the project, but the plans fell through (10, 11, 16, 17, 23). Clayton reported on his organizing trip to Louisiana (23). Lastly, a letter arrived from C.P. Dye, describing his work among Arkansas sharecroppers in 1932 and 1933, before the STFU was founded (4)

Notable topics in the correspondence include the organizing drive in Alabama and hearings by a Senate Subcommittee headed by Claude Pepper of Florida on the Langer minimum wage bill for farm workers. The NEC met on Oct. 9 and 10; the agenda, minutes, and proposed budget appear, as well as a complete list of STFU locals, with information on the number of paid-up members in each local (9). On the Edmondson, Arkansas case described above, there is a memorandum to the WDL (13) and letters from Frank McCallister (13) and K.T. Sutton (14) describing their work on the case. A copy of the court brief prepared by Sutton accompanies his letter. Finally, there are reports from Mitchell (20) and Clayton (Nov. 1) on their conversations with Will Alexander, who offered to help raise funds for the union

The new Alabama District Council sent forth a series of resolutions, all aimed at changing the STFU Constitution (8,20,29, Dec. 3). In a long and detailed letter to James G. Patton, President of the National Farmer's Union (NFU), Mitchell explained the problems of organizing farm labor in the South and proposed that the STFU become the "Southern Division" of the NFU (Oct. 30); correspondence between Mitchell and Patton continued throughout November with no result (7,14,17,25). Other interesting items include: a three-page letter from Kester on his campaign to liberalize the South through its rural churches (7), a report from Frank McCallister on the UCAPAWA delegation to the CIO Annual Convention (22), and Mitchell to Jonathan Daniels, describing the union's activities in Alabama (24)

Convention preparations dominate the correspondence for December. There is an analysis of the union's membership drive (31), as well as more detailed information on STFU locals in Mississippi contained in Butler's letters to organizer E.O. Cistrunk (9,16). On Oklahoma, see Sweeden's ability to organize the state (27) and Sweeden's embittered reply (29). Sam Franklin wrote at length on racial friction at the Providence Co-op Farm (19), and Mitchell gave Jonathan Daniels his assessment of how the war would affect the STFU (26).

Survey of wages and food prices in Missouri, 1940-1941; Agreement between Local 56 of the AMCBWNA and the P.J. Ritter Co. of Bridgeton, N.J.; proposal for a Missouri Agricultural Workers Council, most likely written by O.H. Whitfield; letter to Secretary of Agricultural Claude R. Wickard, suggesting that he appoint James P. Davis of the AAA office at Little Rock as his "Negro assistant"; flyers for STFU mass meetings; notes for a speech by Mitchell at the Hod Carriers' Union Annual Convention in St. Louis, Mo

Folders 658 and 659 -- Not Filmed. Folder 660 -- Monthly reports of locals. Folder 661 -- Charter Applications. Folders 662 to 675 -- Organizers' weekly reports

Papers for the Eighth Annual STFU Convention, held at Sheffield, Alabama on Jan. 7 to 10, are far more extensive than the papers for previous conventions. They include the program, list of delegates, reports from Butler , Betton, Mitchell, and J.F. Hynds (on his work settling claims against the AAA), the "STFU Sign Manual and Ritual", approximately fifty resolutions passed at the convention, including one on the retirement of J.R. Butler as STFU President, and a thoroughly revised union Constitution. A set of typed minutes, with handwritten corrections, does appear, but the printed Proceedings does not. For the first time since the mid-1930s, the STFU encountered large-scale violence when a group of planters broke up two union meetings at Caruthersville, Mo. on Jan. 16 and 23, and the correspondence from Jan. 17 onward is almost solely devoted to the incident. Major figures involved in the Caruthersville affair include Mitchell, Missouri organizer W.M. Tanner, Governor Forrest C. Donnell of Missouri, Frank McCallister, Secretary of the Southern WDL, and William Green, President of the AF of L

The investigation into the violence at Caruthersville, Mo. continued throughout February and might best be followed through the letters of Frank McCallister, Secretary of the Southern WDL. In this connection, see also Mitchell to McCallister, providing good background information on the incident (3) and an exchange between STFU lawyer Claude Cooper and Gov. Donnell of Missouri (12, 27). There is a statement from Mitchell to the Joint Legislative Economy Committee (U.S. Congress) arguing against the abolishment of FSA (13) and a long letter from Mitchell to NAACP Secretary Walter White on the case of Edmondson, Ark. (18).

National Sharecroppers Week was held March 1 to 8; the papers include the NSW pamphlet, a list of sponsors, and an "Outline for Speakers" (1). Negotiations continued with James Patton concerning possible STFU affiliation with the National Farmers' Union (7,13,23,25) and the papers include a nine-page transcript of the debate on this question at the March 21 meeting of the NEC (21). Also under discussion during March was a plan to start an STFU Cooperative Marketing and Purchasing Association in Alabama; see especially Mitchell to Roy E. Raley, reporting on his conversations with Alabama FSA officials on securing their help for the venture (26). Mitchell to Arthur G. McDowell provides particularly good background information on the Caruthersville incident in January (14)

At the request of Will Alexander, Mitchell undertook a study of the operations of the Farm Bureau Federation in the South. The papers include his letters to Alexander (1,17)) and a lengthy report with attached statements from 98 small farmers claiming they were forced to join the Farm Bureau in order to continue receiving their government subsidy payments (17). The Southern Conference for Human Welfare met at Nashville on April 19 to 21; some correspondence relating to the Conference appears, but the program and Proceedings do not. There is a press release on the STFU marketing cooperative in Alabama (n.d. [April]), and a letter from Clayton to Congressman Lyndon B. Johnson, asking him to help arrange a $90,000 loan for a group of black farmers near Austin, Texas who wish to purchase a plantation (21)

Mitchell's attempt to gain wide publicity for his Farm Bureau report ran into a snag when the Associated Press, featuring a possible suit for libel, refused to cover the story. See the STFU's press releases on the report (4) and letters from Frank McCallister (5,8) and Benjamin Marsh (16) on their efforts to get proper coverage. There are also two interesting letters reacting to the report from AF of L president William Green (4) and Aubrey Williams (5) The Articles of Incorporation of the Arkansas Farmers Co- Operative Association appear during this month (12), as does Mitchell's statement before the House Committee Investigating National Defense Migration (8)

There are two interesting letters on the situation in Missouri, one from Arthur G. McDowell to Frank McCallister reporting on UCAPAWA activities there (2) and one from Mitchell to McDowell on the current status and the STFU in Missouri (16). An apparently complete list of STFU locals, with an estimate of the number of active members in each, appears immediately after the GEC minutes (27; note: the NEC changes its name to the "General Executive Council" as of this date). Finally, there is a letter from the Secretary of Agriculture responding to Mitchell's Farm Bureau report (30)

The only notable event of the summer was the creation of the STFU Legal Department with Arkansas lawyer K.T. Sutton in charge to handle the various legal problems of union members. The reader may follow the progress of the new department through the correspondence of Sutton and in the case reports he sent to headquarters (n.d. [July], Aug. 6, n.d. [August]). Other major topics during the summer include the union's desperate search for financial support and the new co-operative associations in Arkansas and Alabama. On the latter subject, see especially Mitchell's letter to Betton and Raley (15)

The union held a Wage Conference in Memphis on Sept. 7 to demand the same wages for cotton picking which the government had guaranteed to Mexican workers imported by the War Manpower Commission. Papers related to the conference include a press release (2), circulars, petitions, and handbills distributed at the conference (7), and the draft of a press release which provides a rough account of what took place (9). Toward the end of the month Mitchell went to Washington to try to convince the Manpower Commission to send STFU members to Arizona in place of Mexicans; see his report from Washington (25), the memorandum he submitted to the Commission (28), and his letter to the US Employment Service in Arizona offering to send 1,000 workers (26).

The WMC took up Mitchell's offer and the planning began in earnest. FSA Administrator C.B. Baldwin supplied detailed information on prevailing conditions about wage rates in California, but claimed to know little about Arizona and New Mexico (13). Odis Sweeden, a former STFU leader in Oklahoma, happened to be in Arizona and sent Mitchell the missing information (15); the sheet of paper on which Sweeden answered Mitchell's questions is lost, but see Mitchell's transcription of Sweeden's replies (20). There are three comprehensive memoranda in which Mitchell set forth his position: one to the War Manpower Advisory Committee, written in response to a request from Walter Reuther (6), one to the WMC itself (15), and one to the Farmers' Union over possible affiliation came to a somewhat caustic end; see the letter from NFU President James Patton (5) and Mitchell's memorandum describing the full history of the negotiations (9)

The Ninth Annual Convention was held in Memphis on Nov. 11 and 12, but only a set of resolutions appears in the papers (11). The USES sent information on the conditions of employment in Arizona (4), and, after considerable difficulties, the STFU got off a shipment of workers. There are two apparently incomplete lists of the men sent, their age and race (13, 25). On the problems encountered, see Mitchell to Will Alexander (14) and a letter from USES Director John J. Corson (23). The worst trouble came on Nov. 24, when 150 STFU workers were stranded at a railroad station at Brinkley, Ark It appears that the state director of USES suddenly vetoed the further transport of workers from Arkansas. On this snafu, see the transcript of a telephone conversation between Mitchell and the state director (25; note: this is a fragment of a letter probably written a few days later). The union also received a proposition from the US Sugar Corporation to send 4,000 workers to Florida for cane-cutting. Mitchell was wary of the proposal and expressed his misgivings in a letter to Frank McCallister (16) and in a memorandum to Norman Thomas and other friends of the union (18)

Complaints began to arrive from the STFU contingents sent to Arizona (1), New Mexico (8), and Camp 90 at McNary, Texas (2,7,10). For good information on the problems at Camp 90, which eventuated in a sit-down strike, see the reports from organizer Anderson Johnson. Mitchell wrote the FSA about these complaints (12), but the agency did not reply until January. Beginning on December 11, there is a deluge of letters from job-seekers all over the South in response to an STFU advertisement in the Memphis Commercial-Appeal about harvesting work in Florida. On the arrangements for the Florida jobs, see Mitchell's report on his negotiations with government officials (6), his letters to the WMC, informing them that he has 1,000 families ready to go (22, 31), as well as the replies from the WMC stating that the Florida farm operators are unwilling to sign FSA contracts (28,29)

"Extracts of Letter to Senator LaFollette"; drafts of letters to various foundations applying for funds; STFU statement on the poll tax; list of families in various Mississippi counties, perhaps connected with the USES survey; report by J.F. Hynds on his work investigating complaints against the AAA; summaries of "typical" legal cases handled by STFU attorney K.T. Sutton; "The Out Look of the Tenant Farmer, 1942" by F.R. Betton; and a sample FSA Work Agreement.

Folder 788 -- Petitions to President Roosevelt on minimum wages for farm workers. One sample filmed. Folder 789 -- U.S. Employment Service forms. Mainly War Manpower Survey forms, but some job application forms as well. Note: Two sub-folders of forms marked "Application For Job as a Cotton Picker" were not filmed. Folders 790 to 791 -- Organizer's reports from J.F. Hynds in Arkansas. Folder 792 -- Expense reports of H.L. Mitchell. Folder 793 -- Organizer's reports from W.M. Tanner in Missouri. Folder 794 -- Reports from STFU locals. Folder 795 -- Organizer's reports from J.R. Butler, F.R. Betton, and Roy E. Raley. Folder 796A -- Petitions to Congress to continue the FSA. Folder 796B -- Not Filmed

Reports from the contingent of farm workers sent to Florida began to arrive about Jan. 10 and continued almost daily thereafter. Many of the workers expressed satisfaction with what they found, but the Rev. David S. Burgess, in a five-page letter to Clinton Golden of the WMC Labor-Management Committee, depicted scenes of considerable squalor in the migrant workers' camps (19). Further shipments to Florida were delayed due to lack of housing for white workers; on this and other difficulties, see Mitchell to WMC Executive Director Arthur S. Fleming (8), Mitchell's report to the GEC on his trip to Washington (12), and his circular letter to the union's organizers (24). There are two conflicting reports on the trouble at Camp 90, McNary, Texas, one from the FSA (4) and one from J.W. Mack, the STFU representative at the camp (10). Finally, there are statements by both Mitchell and F.R. Betton on the STFU's racial policies, written in response to a query from NSW officials in Minneapolis (7,14)

Correspondence from workers in Florida and Arizona poured in throughout the month. Two long letters from B.V. Zachary, who reported that hundreds of workers in Eloy, Arizona, received special attention. F.R. Betton reported on his inspection trip to Florida (9) and Mitchell sent special instructions to all STFU representatives in Florida on how to organize and how to handle workers' problems (19). There are also two letters from organizer George Mayberry in Reform, Alabama, informing the union that two black workers had been forcibly prevented from boarding a train to go to Florida (4, 13)

The union's plans for establishing a migratory workers' union came to an abrupt end with the introduction of House Joint Resolution No. 96, also known as the Cannon Bill, which placed the recruitment of agricultural labor under the Agricultural Extension Service of the Department of Agriculture. A copy of the bill, which contained explicit anti-union provisions, appears in the papers (11). Mitchell sent letters to a number of prominent labor leaders, asking their help in fighting the bill (15 to 17). Mitchell went to Washington on Jan. 22 to work against the bill; his report to the GEC summarizes his activities (30). There are copies of three statements by Mitchell presumably made during this trip, one to the House Appropriations Committee, one to the Senate to Committee on Agriculture, and a third to the WMC Labor-Management Committee, as well as a statement by F.R. Betton to the Appropriations Committee. All four statements are undated and appear at the end of the month. See also Mitchell's letter to W. Alexander, suggesting strategy for the forthcoming battle to save FSA (25).

The fight against the Cannon Bill may best be followed in Mitchell's letters to Norman Thomas (2) and J.G. Luhrsen, Executive Secretary of the Railway Labor Executives' Association (9), as well as in his lengthy reports to the GEC on his lobbying efforts in Washington (15,22). Various unions and liberal organizations wrote toward the beginning of the month, giving their positions on the bill. After the bill passed the Senate, Mitchell and Norman Thomas sent communications to the President urging him to veto the measure (17,19). There is also a report of a conference with lawyer K.T. Sutton on the STFU Legal Program (9)

Chester A. Davis, War Food Administrator, spelled out the government's new policy on transporting agricultural labor in a letter to Mitchell (21). Mitchell explained the STFU viewpoint in a six-page memorandum to various officials in Washington entitled, "Factors in the Farm Labor Crisis" (15; note: this is an approximate date). See also his statement before the House Committee Investigating the Farm Security Administration (27). Toward the end of the month, there is a correspondence about sending 500 workers to the Seabrook Farms Company in Bridgeton, N.J. Also of special interest are: two letters from K.T. Sutton on his attempt to set aside the result of an election in Edmondson, Ark., and the court petition filed in the case (3,4); a memorandum from Mitchell to Harold Oram on setting up a National Sharecroppers Fund (8), and correspondence about the initiation of an STFU cooperative store at Spruce Pine, Ala

Efforts to send workers to Seabrook Farms continued, but only a handful of union members actually went. There are two reports from STFU members in New Jersey (22,24) and a letter from Hayes Beall, informing Mitchell that the company chose to employ Jamaican workers instead of southern ones (26). Lester Granger, Executive Secretary of the National Urban League, wrote about his recent conversation with one of President Roosevelt's "closest advisors" concerning the new farm labor legislation (18); see also Mitchell's lengthy reply (21). J.E. Clayton reported on his conversations with the Farm Foundation concerning the possibility of the STFU purchasing the former Lowden plantation to colonize black sharecroppers (3)

There is a flurry of correspondence beginning on June 29 and continuing throughout the summer of the use of prisoners of war by planters to depress farm wages in the South; major figures involved include Frank Fenton Organization Director of the AF of L, Marvin Jones, the new War Food Administrator, and Clinton S. Golden, Vice-Chairman of the WMC. The union also discovered that county agents were interpreting the new labor laws to mean that farm workers could not leave a state without permission, even if they left for private employment; see a letter from the Justice Department on this question (July 14) and Mitchell's protest to the WMC (Aug. 28). The union issued a timely bulletin to its members on "Legal Rights of Farm Workers" (June 30, July 5). Also, there is a lengthy report from Clayton on his organizing trip to New Mexico (Aug. 26). Lastly, there are several replies from STFU locals to Mitchell's questions about post-war plans for the union (Aug. 8 to 28 and n.d. [August])

Dissension developed among the staff members of the Spruce Pine Co-operative store, and Mitchell and STFU President Roy E. Raley attempted to straighten things out. The first STFU local in New Mexico, located at Las Cruces, began to become active. The reader may follow the progress of the Las Cruces local through the correspondence of organizer G.W. Holsome. See especially Mitchell to Holsome, proposing that the union buy some surplus land near Las Cruces for the purpose of colonizing black farm workers (17). Finally there is a long letter from David A. Munro describing the situation of farm labor in California (21).

On Sept. 29, Mitchell sent out a letter to several members of the Senate asking them to oppose the continuation of Public Law 45; their replies arrived throughout October. In particular see the replies from Senators Tom Stewart and William Langer, who enclosed copies of letters they received on this question from the Agricultural Extension Service and the WMC, respectively (16, 30). FSA official Hayes Beall sent Mitchell the latest gossip around his agency (1, 29). Black STFU organizer J.E. Clayton wrote at great length on the Las Cruces colonization project (2,7,12,30). At the end of the month, there is a letter from Mitchell to Leon Schachter, Business Manager of Local 56 of the AMC & BW of NA, on sending 500 to work in canning factories in New Jersey (27)

The Tenth Annual STFU Convention was held at Memphis on November 9 to 11; the papers include a set of resolutions, an address by Charles D. Lewis, Director of the East Central Division of the AAA, and a report by Mitchell. The Proceedings do not appear. The most important resolution passed called for STFU representation on the WMC Regional Labor Management Committees; Clinton S. Golden, Vice-Chairman of the WMC, wrote to explain why this was not possible (29). Other correspondence is largely devoted to plans for sending 150 workers to the E.J. Hurff Co. in Swedesboro, New Jersey. There is also a good deal of correspondence on the case of Tee Davis, a black union member from Edmondson, Ark., convicted of shooting with intent to kill. For a detailed explanation of the case, which concerned the absence of black people on Arkansas juries, see the letter from union attorney K.T. Sutton to Mitchell dated October 12

A shipment of 150 workers left for New Jersey and reports began coming back to Memphis on how the men liked their new jobs. Problems did arise, as an official of the Hurff Company wrote (23). The STFU quickly set up a grievance committee, which sent back a report on its decisions (28). The correspondence about the Tee Davis case continued; see especially one letter from Morris Milgrim of the WDL on what his organization would do to help (20). On P.L. 45 see the mimeographed copy of a lengthy letter from National Farmers' Union President James Patton to Senator Kenneth McKeller (18)

Telegrams; Articles of Incorporation of the Southeast Missouri Farm Laborer's Cooperative Purchasing and Marketing Association; letters applying for jobs in Florida; list of STFU locals in various states

Folders 875 and 876 -- Reports from locals. Folder 877 -- Organizer's reports from F.R. Betton. Folder 878 -- Organizer's reports from Bill Johnson. Folder 879 -- Not Filmed. Folder 880 -- Organizer's reports from H.L. Mitchell, E.O. Cistrunk, M.J. Jones, and J.F. Hynds. Folder 881 -- Applications for government farm work. Folders 882 to 886 -- Not Filmed

The STFU kept in close touch with the Hurff Company and with Leon Schachter about the workers already sent to New Jersey and about possible future shipments. There is a copy of the minutes of the STFU grievance committee at the company (13). Vice-Presidents J.E. Clayton and F.R. Betton journeyed to Las Cruces, New Mexico, to explore their colonization scheme; the papers include a formal joint report on their meeting with the Las Cruces leaders (6) and their respective reports to Mitchell (9, 13). On the situation in Las Cruces, see also a long letter from Paul Dennie to Clayton (18). Union members at the Dyess Colony sent a number of letters to organizer Bill Johnson, complaining about conditions at the settlement (24, 26, 27)

Reports began to arrive about the middle of the month that several of the workers sent to the Hurff Company were dissatisfied and were leaving; the correspondence during the last half of February is devoted largely to solving this problem. There is an exchange between Mitchell and the National Association of Legal Aid Organizations on conducting a survey to determine the need for legal aid in Eastern Arkansas (8, 21, 24). Also, there is a letter from Mitchell to organizer John Gammill in Oklahoma about starting up the STFU once again in that state (14)

The STFU began sending workers to the F.H. Leggett Co. of Landisville, New Jersey, as well as to the Hurff Co. Leon Schachter wrote Mitchell at length on other job possibilities for southern workers in New Jersey (17). The union's new program came in for some criticism by Rev. David S. Burgess, a friend of the union in New York, and Mitchell wrote Burgess explaining the rationale for the "organized migration" (18). Lastly, there is an especially interesting letter from Mitchell to A. Philip Randolph on the subject of anti-black sentiment among AF of L officials in Memphis (9)

Most of the correspondence concerns shipments of workers to New Jersey canning plants, especially the E.J. Hurff Co. and the Cranbury Poultry Co. There is a copy of a letter from the Campbell Soup Co. the Leon Schachter on their agreement to employ 600 migratory workers during the summer (24). Another project which appears frequently in the April correspondence is Mitchell's plan to provide summer jobs for 200 female students from various black colleges in the South at the Deerfield Packing Co. in Bridgeton, N.J. A good summary of all these activities appears in Mitchell's reports to the GEC (30)

Recruiting college students for jobs in New Jersey is the main topic in the papers this month; see especially two memoranda by Mitchell on this subject (13,21). There is a particularly interesting exchange between Mitchell and Leon Schachter on the opposition of Memphis officials of the War Manpower Commission to the STFU's labor recruitment program (1,3,5) and between Mitchell and the Commission on the opening of four prisoner of war camps in Crittenden County, Ark. (13,26). Mitchell also initiated correspondence with state secretaries of the National Farmers' Union in the West and Mid-West in his effort to find seasonal jobs for union members outside the South.

Mitchell's complaints about the USES Memphis office continued (1,3,8,14). Three new companies joined the roster of firms employing STFU seasonal workers: the Venice Maid Co., Vineland, N.J.; the Clark Equipment Co., Buchanan, Mich., and the Sussex Poultry Co., Milford, Del. Reports arrived from W.C. Banks at the E.J. Hurff Co., Swedesboro, N.J. (9,17), Moses Brown at the Cranbury Poultry Co., Cranbury, NJ (12), and from Carrie Dilworth at Venice Maid (15,26). The college students arriving at the Deerfield Packing Co. at the beginning of the month found the housing inadequate; there is a letter of complaint and a memorandum from Mitchell on the problem (13)

During July, the union recruited several hundred workers for the Campbell Soup Co.; the details on this and other activities related to the organized migration appear in an exchange between Schachter and Mitchell (15,21). The papers include the minutes of the College Girls Committee at Deerfield Packing (11,18) and a report to Mitchell from Lilease W. Rogers , the Chairman (28). J.E. Clayton traveled to Buchanan, Michigan to inspect the Clark Equipment Co. plant and wrote Mitchell on what he found (3). Meanwhile, Mitchell met with WMC officials in Washington to straighten out the difficulties between the STFU and the Commission; a summary of their agreement appears in a letter from Mitchell to the Commission (14)

On July 31, two STFU organizers and four truck drivers gathering workers for jobs at the Campbell Soup Co. were arrested by a USES official in Cotton Plant, Ark. Mitchell immediately fired off letters to the ACLU, WDL, and similar organizations, asking for help (1). The reader may follow the progress of the case through the letters of Cotton plant lawyer Ross Mathis (11,13,16,25) and through a "statement of facts" on the case (n.d. [August, 1944]). Rev. David S. Burgess, employed by the Congregational Church as a minister to migrant workers, sent two lengthy reports on the condition of the men who did get to Campbell Soup Co. (22,30). There are several replies from labor leaders in California to Mitchell's inquiries concerning jobs in the canning industry in their state (21 to 30). Finally, an extremely valuable chart appears at the end of the month; it lists all shipments of STFU workers sent outside the South from Nov., 1943 to August, 1944, with a breakdown by company, number, age, sex, race, and regular occupations

The correspondence with California union leaders noted in the previous month continued during September. F.R. Betton made a lengthy visit to the Campbell Soup Co. to iron out grievances and sent back lengthy reports (6,8,11,12). David Burgess submitted a long report on his work at Campbell (12). There is also a good deal of correspondence with the National Sharecroppers Fund concerning STFU plans and funding for the coming year, including a prospectus entitled "Farm Organization in the South" (6)

As the end of cotton picking season approached, the STFU tried to find temporary jobs for southern workers in Louisville, Ky. and with the Basic Vegetable Co. in Vacaville, Calif.; neither project ever materialized. Mitchell wrote to ex-FSA official Hayes Beall in Washington on winter job prospects in Florida (23), and Beall wrote directly to David Burgess, as Mitchell requested, outlining the possibilities (25). Much of the correspondence has to do with preparations for the forthcoming STFU convention, including draft copies of parts of the Executive Council Report entitled: "The March of the Machines on the Land", "Organized Migration", "Relations to Government Agencies and Other Organizations", and "Consumer Cooperatives for Farm Workers" (30).

The Eleventh Annual STFU Convention was held in Little Rock on November 14 to 17; the papers include a "Program and Budget for the Year 1944" and a list of delegates and visitors, but no Proceedings or other report of what took place. There is a 13-page report by Leon Schachter entitled "The First Organized Migration of Union Labor" submitted to the Executive Board of the Meat Cutters Union (19). During the first week of the month, there is an exchange between Mitchell and the War Manpower Commission in which Mitchell accused the WMC of not taking advantage of the local labor pool in supplying workers to small southern industries. F.R. Betton later reported, however, that union members did not want jobs in the South: they wanted to go to California (27). The end of the month found Mitchell writing to labor leaders in California and Nebraska, trying to find better-paying jobs for his workers (29)

The papers are mainly routine through December, except for the campaign to obtain a pardon for Tee Davis (see November, 1943, above) which the reader may follow through the letters of lawyer K.T. Sutton and the WDL. There are a few additional items of special interest: Mitchell to AF of L President William Green, asking for help in organizing various rural industries in the South 914); two reports by David Burgess on his organizing trips through Arkansas (19, n.d. [December]); a report on the N.E. Arkansas District Council, including information on the current status of the 19 member locals (25); and a letter from J.E. Clayton, informing Mitchell that a certain Mid-West church group stands ready to donate free cows to Arkansas farmers through the FSA (29)

Statement of H.L. Mitchell on "The 1944 Farm Labor Supply Bill"; Memorandum by Mitchell on "A Congressional Investigation of Abuses of Public Law 45"; Special STFU Newsletter to workers at the Campbell Soup Co.; Bulletin to organizers and locals about jobs available at the Campbell Co.; Memorandum by Mitchell on "Organization of dehydrated food plants and related industries in the South."

As the year began, Mitchell wrote Leon Schachter that the STFU had no prospects for finding jobs for its members except in New Jersey (3). Despite his pessimism, Mitchell wrote the WMC about supplying workers for war plants in Louisville, Ky. (3); the Commission did not take up his offer, for reasons outlined in a WMC internal memorandum which appears in the papers (12). Two hopeful signs did begin to lift the gloom: Marvin W. Hook of the Meat Cutters Union wrote about sending men for packing house jobs in Cleveland, Ohio (10), and the Frank M. Wilson Co. of Stockton, Calif. wrote about employing 100 to 200 workers over the summer (19). Heifers for Relief, an organization founded by the Church of the Brethren, wrote about distributing cows to needy Arkansas families (25, 28). Finally, the union filed suit against W. E. Fallas, an Arkansas planter accused of charging usurious interest rates to his tenants; the court brief and a press release are in the papers (20)

Mitchell and Schachter both became convinced that the prime obstacle facing their "organized migration" program was the opposition of local WMC officials in Memphis, New Jersey, and other places. There is a great deal of correspondence during February on this problem, especially between Mitchell and Schachter, between Mitchell and Paul Sifton of the National Farmers' Union (8, 13); and between the STFU and the WMC. STFU Vice-Presidents F.R. Betton and J.E. Clayton wrote to the Heifers for Relief Committee, setting forth a plan to distribute the promised cows through the Arkansas Farmers Co-operative (8). Rev. David Burgess submitted a lengthy report on his work during the month, including an account of a two-day Ministers' Institute held a Cotton Plant, Ark. (28).

As David Burgess reported to Mitchell early in the month, the Farm Security Administration had decided to sell at auction the Delmo Labor Homes Project in Southeast Missouri which had been built five years earlier to house evicted tenant families (8). An intensive campaign got underway immediately to save the Delmo homes, a campaign which might best be followed in the correspondence and reports of David Burgess. On this subject, see also Mitchell to Alfred Baker Lewis (19), the Minutes of the Tenants' Committee at Delmo (20), and a report on a delegation of Delmo tenants which went to Washington to meet with FSA officials (31). Readers wishing to keep track of the shipments of STFU workers might consult the "Schedule of Seasonal Work Orders", which includes information on the dates of employment, pay promised, and number of workers to be sent (20). Finally, the union once again began to recruit black college students for summer jobs at the Deerfield Packing Co. in Bridgeton, NJ; a memorandum on the agreement with Deerfield appears on March 24

Efforts to save the Delmo Labor Homes were focused on Congress, as the STFU lobbied for legislation which would direct the FSA to sell the homes to the residents at a reasonable price. The members of Congress most directly involved in the campaign were Senators Frank P. Briggs of Missouri and William Langer of North Dakota, as well as Congressmen Orville Zimmerman of Missouri and Frank Hook of Michigan. The key documents include: a "Fact Sheet" on Delmo by David Burgess (3); the FSA to Zimmerman, stating their policy on sales of projects (10); an exchange between Mitchell and the FSA on complaints of Delmo tenants 912,17); and a detailed memorandum for Burgess to Mitchell on his conversation with FSA Regional Director Stephen C. Hughes in Indianapolis (n.d.). There are lengthy reports from organizer Ruby Warren at the Edgar F. Hurff Co. in New Jersey (9,18,21,23), and a memorandum by W.R. Ogg of the Farm Bureau replying to the STFU claim that the South had a surplus of farm labor (9)

Much of the day-to-day correspondence during May concerns the recruitment of 300 black college students for summer jobs at the Deerfield Packing Co. in New Jersey; see especially a press release on the project (30) and a "Report on Student Workers", which provides a breakdown on the number of students sent by individual colleges (n.d.). Hopes for saving the Delmo Homes were centered on an "Independent Tenants' Committee" of prominent St. Louis citizens which planned to buy the homes and resell them to the tenants over an extended period of time; information on this committee can be found in a flood of correspondence on Delmo which appears during the last three days of the month and in a letter from FSA Administrator Frank Hancock to Rev. L.S. Thornton of St. Louis (18). STFU Vice-President J.E. Clayton represented the union at the United Nations Peace Conference in San Francisco and sent home reports on his work (1,3,5,12,27,28).

On the continuing campaign to save the Delmo Homes, see two detailed letters by Rev. L.S. "Ted" Thornton on the work of the St. Louis Committee (5,16) and a nine-page memorandum by David Burgess entitled "Basic Facts About the Delmo Labor Homes Project, and Their Relationship to the Future of the FSA" (25). There is also a memorandum by Burgess on ways to strengthen the STFU (20). For information on the college girls at the Deerfield Packing Co., see the letters of Mae Pearl Kelley (5, 8)

On July 10, the STFU sent 90 workers to the Frank M. Wilson Co. in Stockton, Calif.; for information on this subject, see the lengthy exchange between Mitchell and the company on the problems which arose (24, 27) and reports from Carrie Dilworth (13), Moses Brown (22), and Roy Clay (24), all at Stockton. For summaries of the STFU's current activities, see Mitchell's memoranda to the NSF (7) and to the STFU Executive Council (13). David Burgess and Cong. Frank Hook both testified before the House Agriculture Committee on behalf of the Delmo tenants; their statements appear (10) as well as a long letter from Burgess to Mitchell on the same topic (31). Of special interest is a draft of a report by Dr. Arthur F. Raper of the Bureau of Agricultural Economics on the effect of increasing mechanization on cotton production in the South 914). Finally, there is a memorandum by Mitchell on the situation at the Campbell Soup Co. where the Food, Tobacco, and Agricultural Workers Union, CIO (formerly UCAPAWA) threatened to strike if STFU seasonal workers were employed (26)

Reports on the situation at the Delmo homes arrived from organizer Bill Johnson and David Burgess; see also Burgess' monthly report (31). Mae Pearl Kelley kept Mitchell informed on what was happening at the Deerfield Packing Co. (3,10,20,27). During the last week of the month, a furious fight erupted when the STFU learned of Department of Agriculture plans to enact a wage ceiling for cotton picking in the South by holding state-wide referendums. The Department's Arkansas Wage Board held hearings on the wage ceiling at Osceola and Forrest City; the papers include minutes of the hearings compiled by Lewis Henderson, a friend of the union from Little Rock (29,30) and a scathing report on the Osceola session by David Burgess entitled "A Preview of American Fascism" (29)

The most important topic for this month is the union's unsuccessful attempt to halt the wage ceiling imposed on cotton picking. Items related to the wage ceiling fight include: minutes of a meeting of the Delta Council Labor Committee held July 12 during which the Council voted to ask the government for a wage ceiling (6); Mitchell's statement to the Secretary of Agriculture entitled "A Ceiling on Cotton Pickers' Wages" (10) and his report to the Executive Council on his trip to Washington (18); Mitchell to Cong. Frank Hook, explaining the effect of the ceiling on cotton production (21); and a long memorandum from union lawyer K.T. Sutton on the prospects for obtaining an injunction against the Arkansas USDA Wage Board (n.d.). On the continuing fight to save the Delmo Homes, see the exchange of correspondence between Mitchell and David Burgess (11,24,27).

On October 10, STFU filed a petition for injunction in Federal District Court to restrain the Arkansas USDA Wage Board from setting a wage ceiling of $2.05 per hundred for cotton picking; a copy of the petition and anSTFU press release about it appear at that date. Further information on the wage ceiling fight can be found in the correspondence K.T. Sutton and in a letter from F.R. Betton, who claimed that white tenants at Cotton Plant were so infuriated at the ceiling that they planned to form anSTFU local (31). Letters and reports concerning the campaign to purchase the Delmo Labor Homes from the FSA appear throughout the month, but become especially heavy during the last few days. The union held a series of pre-convention meetings in both Arkansas and Missouri during October; the papers include the minutes of one such meeting held at Dumas, Ark. (13). Finally, reports of trouble arrived from the Frank M. Wilson Co. in Stockton, Calif., where some STFU members had joined FTAW-CIO; see the exchange between Moses Brown and Mitchell on this subject (1,11)

After several months of struggle, David Burgess finally concluded arrangements for the purchase of the Delmo Homes through Sherwood Eddy's Co-operative Foundation in New York; the papers include the draft and final copy of Eddy's bid to the FSA (1,3). The STFU petition for injunction in the wage ceiling dispute was dismissed in Federal Court; on this matter see K.T. Sutton to Mitchell, explaining the court's action (10), as well as a WDL memorandum to Sutton, pointing out defects in the petition (2). Two other items are of special interest: Mitchell to Clayton, setting forth his general policy on buying land for the purpose of colonizing STFU members (15); and Mitchell to Lewis Henderson on the current strength and activities of the STFU in Arkansas (26)

The Twelfth Annual STFU Convention was held at St. Louis, Mo. on December 11 to 13; the papers include the program, a typed copy of the Proceedings, a handwritten list of delegates and visitors, the report of the Executive Council, and a two-page telegram from Gardner Jackson to the convention (11). There is also a lengthy letter from Jackson to Mitchell on the wage ceiling problem (18), as well as one from Mitchell to the NAACP on the same subject (7). There is a detailed letter from Mitchell to Alfred Baker Lewis, Secretary of NSF, on the problems which the STFU had experienced with the Delmo Housing Committee in St. Louis (20)

Memorandum from Mitchell to David Burgess on "Early Organization in Southeast Missouri"; Agreements between the STFU and the Edgar F. Hurff Co., the P.J. Ritter Co., the Basic Vegetable Co., and the California Conserving Co.; an STFU press release on the Delmo Labor Homes campaign; letters from Mississippi organizer B.J. Bennett; a two-page questionnaire completed by Charlie Smith on his settlement with his landlord; approximately 25 pages of handwritten notes by David Burgess, dealing primarily with the Delmo Homes; and a Model Landlord and Tenant Contract drawn up by K.T. Sutton

Folders 1096 to 1098 -- Correspondence from college students concerning summer jobs. Folder 1110 -- Not Filmed. Folders 1111 to 1115 -- Monthly reports from locals, 1945. Folder 1116 -- Bonds submitted by local secretaries -- one sample filmed. Folder 1117 -- Charter applications, 1945. Folder 1119 -- Lists of local STFU officers and officer election forms, 1945. Folder 1121 -- Not Filmed. Folder 1123 -- Landlord-tenant contracts. Folder 1124 -- Auditor's Report, Nov. 1, 1944 to Oct. 31, 1945. Also, monthly financial statements, June to November, 1945.

The papers become very spotty during both 1946 and 1947, with an average of about ten items appearing each month. During the first few months of 1946, the major topic is the attempt to roll back the USDA wage ceiling for cotton workers. During the summer, the STFU, which had changed its name to the National Farm Labor Union (NFLU) became affiliated with the AF of L; the formal NFLU request for affiliation is dated August 14. Also during the summer, the union became embroiled in a furious fight with the FTA-CIO over the seasonal employment of NFLU members at the Campbell Soup Co. in Camden, NJ. The CIO union threatened to strike the plant if NFLU workers were hired, and the NFLU retaliated with charges that the FTA-CIO was Communist-led. The National Farmers Union also became involved in the conflict, which ended when the company gave in to the CIO demands. On this subject, see the affidavit of George Stith, the NFLU representative at Campbell (Sept. 14). At the end of the year, the union started a campaign to stop the illegal entry of Mexican Nationals into Texas, where they were used to depress the wage standards of American farm labor; see especially the detailed letter from a U.S. Customs Patrol inspector at Alpine, Texas to Mitchell on why his service was unable to stop the "wetback" immigration (Dec. 9)

"Draft for a Union Farm Agreement"; press releases on the appointment of Barney B. Taylor as NFLU Organization Director, on affiliation with the AF of L, on the trouble at the Campbell Soup Co., and on the defeat of the USDA wage ceiling program; Voice of America address by the USDA wage ceiling program; Voice of America address by H.L. Mitchell on the NFLU program; Constitution of the NFLU

Folder 1128 -- Lists of workers sent to food processing plants in New Jersey and Maryland, 1946

The Thirteenth Annual Convention was held at Washington, D.C. from January 13 to 15; the papers include a press release, the report of the Executive Council, and the NFLU Constitution as amended by the Convention (Jan. 13). Other items of special interest include: two formal statements by Mitchell, one to the House Agriculture Committee on Farm Labor Bill H.R. 3367 (June 18), and the other to a USDA hearing on "Minimum Wage Rates of Sugar Cane Workers" (July 26); an exchange between Mitchell and the U.S. Commissioner of Immigration and Naturalization on the "wetback" problem (April 17 and 23); and a memorandum by NFLU Texas organizer George Webber on the importation of Mexican Nationals in the Rio Grande Valley (July 15), followed by a reply from the U.S. Immigration and Naturalization Service (July 31)

On September 2, there is a memorandum to the Robert Marshall Civil Liberties Trust Fund proposing a survey of the civil liberties of migratory farm workers to be conducted by Ernesto Galarza. Virtually all the correspondence from October through December concerns the strike of 1,200 workers at the Di Giorgio Ranch in Bakersfield, Calif., called by the NFLU with the aid of the California Federation of Labor. There are frequent mimeographed strike bulletins, as well as a list of donors to the strike relief fund (Dec. 18), and an anti-union booklet prepared by the Special Citizens Committee Investigating Di Giorgio Farms (Dec. 17). Finally, the Fourteenth Annual Convention was held at Little Rock, Ark. on December 12 to 14; the papers include a magazine article by Mitchell on the convention, the report of the Executive Council, the program, the resolutions passed, and the NFLU Constitution (Dec. 12)

Address by H.L. Mitchell to the Second Annual Convention of Midwest Sugar Workers; several press releases on the Di Giorgio strike; NFLU memorandum on plans for organization in Texas, New Mexico, Arizona, and California; address by Mitchell to the California State Federation of Labor; a six-page statement on the NFLU program; memorandum by Mitchell on the background and activities of FTA-CIO President Donald Henderson

Folder 1133 -- Lists of workers sent to food processing plants in New Jersey, 1947

The Di Giorgio strike continues to be the topic of greatest importance in the papers through the end of March. The reader may best follow the sequence of strike events through the numerous strike bulletins, issued approximately every ten days, and through the correspondence of NFLU California organizer Jim Wrightson. During the last week of January and the first week of February, several sizable contributions to the strike relief fund arrived from AF of L unions; a complete list of donors appears on February 6. Also related is a statement by Mitchell presented before the Senate Fact Finding Committee on Subversive Activities in California (Feb. 18)

Black workers at the Edgar F. Hurff Co. in New Jersey loyal to FTA-CIO staged a wildcat strike during April demanding that the company sever its agreement with the AFL Meat Cutters Union. Since the NFLU placed its own workers at the Hurff Co. through the Meat Cutters, the union became directly involved in the dispute. See the detailed reports of F.R. Betton, who was sent to New Jersey to help quash the strike. The NFLU's own strike at the Di Giorgio Corp. continued and may be followed through the strike bulletins (3, 18). There is some correspondence with the Hollywood AFL Film Council about a film produced by the Council on the Di Giorgio strike (15, 22). In April and continuing until October, there is a sizable volume of correspondence to and from I. Lee Parker, NFLU Labor Placement Director, about seasonal jobs outside the South. Finally, in the undated section at the end of the month, there is a lengthy "Organizational Repot on California Farm Labor" by Hank Hasiwar

The Di Giorgio strike again becomes the most important topic in the correspondence in May, especially after the shooting of strike leader Jim Price on May 18. In addition to the flood of telegrams and press releases following the shooting, see the length report by Ernesto Galarza entitled "Poverty in the Valley of Plenty" (1), Mitchell to organizer Hank Hasiwar on a plan to picket Di Giorgio plants throughout the country (6), and the opinion of Herbert S. Thatcher, AFL General Counsel, on the legal ramifications of the picketing scheme (11). There is some correspondence about placing black college students in summer jobs, although not as much as in 1944 and 1945

The employees at the Hurff Co. voted in an NLRB election to replace the AFL Meat Cutters Union with the FTA-CIO as their bargaining agent; see the reports of WC Banks, the NFLU representative at Hurff (8,17). The Di Giorgio Corp. obtained an injunction against the NFLU's nationwide picketing scheme, terming it a "secondary boycott"; information on the injunction may be found in two long letters from Ernesto Galarza (23, 27) and in an NFLU press release (28). The union issued a statement on the importation of foreign nationals to depress American farm wages (4), and Mitchell complained to USES Director Robert C. Goodwin on the use of West Indian workers in the Florida sugar cane industry (15). There is a report on the status of the college student recruitment drive (8) and two letters from NSF Secretary Hazel Whitmen on the work of her organization (9,26)

For detailed information on the situation in California, the reader should consult the multi-paged, single-spaced letters of Ernesto Galarza, who seems to have gone everywhere and met everyone in the state (5,18,26). Beginning on July 12 and continuing for several months, contributions to the Di Giorgio strike fund poured in from AFL-affiliated unions throughout the country. A good summary of the NFLU seasonal employment program in New Jersey and Pennsylvania appears in a bulletin Mitchell sent to his Southern locals on July 23.

The progress of the seasonal labor program may be followed in the letters from I. Lee Parker to Mitchell (3,7,11,18) and in the correspondence from the J.H. Heinz Co., which employed 80 NFLU workers at its plants in Muscatine, Iowa and Bowling Green, Ohio. The NFLU statement to the NLRB on the Di Giorgio injunction suit appears on August 3; see also the report from Hank Hasiwar on the court proceedings (18). A USIS Border Patrol guard at El Paso, Texas wrote Mitchell about the numerous violations of the immigration law at his station (1). There is a three-page mimeographed letter sent out by the Southeast Louisiana Dairy Farmers Union to its members explaining its decision to switch affiliation from the Teamsters Union to the NFLU (5), and a letter from Mitchell to AFL President William Green, asking for assistance in hiring two new organizers to work with the Louisiana dairy farmers and with citrus laborers in Florida (16)

The papers include a statement to Mitchell on the proposed importation of 5,000 Mexican Nationals into California for farm work (9) and a letter from Galarza to the U.S. Department of State on the same subject (20). There are several reports from I. Lee Parker on his new job organizing Louisiana dairy farmers. On the Di Giorgio strike, see Mitchell to Hank Hasiwar, advising him on strategy (1)

From October 16 to 18, the NFLU held a conference at Laredo, Texas with the Confederacion Proletaria Nacional of Mexico in an effort to stop the illegal flow of Mexican farm workers into the United States; there is a summary report by Galarza on the conference (18). While the conference was in session, a flood of Mexicans crossed the border at El Paso, Texas and were taken into custody by the border patrol, which promptly turned them over to the USES for employment in Texas. On the El Paso incident, see Mitchell's telegram to President Truman (17), William Green's protests to Attorney General Tom Clark (21), and two lengthy reports from Galarza (24, 28)

the Fifteenth Annual Convention was held at Cincinnati, Ohio on November 12 to 14; the papers include the program, the report of the Executive Board, a report on the convention by NSF Executive Secretary Hazel Whitman, and several press releases (12 to 14). There is a report by Galarza entitled "Civil Liberties and Spanish-speaking people of the southwest states" (1). Finally, there is a set of minutes of a Board of Directors meeting of the National Sharecroppers Fund called to discuss the NSF's poor performance in recent months; the minutes include an analysis of the NSF cash flow over the previous year (30)

There is a copy of a letter from Hank Hasiwar to both the Federal and the California State Mediation Service, asking them to intervene in the Di Giorgio strike (3), a letter from strike leader James B. Price on the current situation (29), and a report entitled "The Present Status of Federal Farm Labor Camps in California" prepared by California State Senator Harry E. Drobish, along with a copy of his covering letter to Cong. Helen Gahagan Douglas (31)

Agreements between the NFLU and the H.J. Heinz Co. and the Imperial Agricultural Corp. of Hartford, Conn.; Statement of C.J. Haggerty, Secretary-Treasurer of the California State Federation of Labor, before the House Committee on Agriculture; copy of "Agreement in Relation to the Employment of Jamaicans in Agricultural Work in the Sugar Industry in the United States of America"; materials relating to the Di Giorgio strike, including press releases, appeals to other unions for strike funds, a chronological summary of the strike up to Feb. 12, 1948, and background information sheets on the Di Giorgio company

Folder 1181 -- Applications for Work, 1948 (Approx. 400 forms). Folder 1184 -- Shipping lists and Worker's Contracts for jobs with the H.J. Heinz Co. All shipping lists filmed. Two different contracts were used, and one sample of each type of contract has been filmed.

a major topic is the US-Mexican International Executive Agreement for the importation of Mexican contract workers (or braceros) into the United States; see especially two lengthy NLFU memoranda on this subject (Jan 8, 10) a draft copy of the Agreement and individual work contract (Jan 3), and two letters from Galarza on why the details of the Agreement had not been made public (March 15,16). The NFLU began an intensive drive to obtain legislation to improve the lot of farm workers during February; the papers include a letter from Mitchell to NSF Executive Secretary Hazel Whitman outlining plans for the campaign (Jan 6), a letter sent to all US Senators on the first of February containing the union's proposals, replies from the Senators (appear throughout February), and statements by Mitchell on the need for housing for migratory labor and on the use of the Taft-Hartley Act to break the Di Giorgio strike (Feb 18; March 6). On the legal cases arising from the Di Giorgio strike, see the correspondence from lawyer Alexander H. Schullman. An apparently complete list of secretaries of NFLU locals appears on February 17

As the union's legislative campaign continued, Mitchell testified before Congress on minimum wages and social security for farm workers and on rural housing (April 14, 20, 26). On the California situation, see two letters from Alexander H. Schullman concerning the Di Giorgio injunction suit (April 1, 28), the minutes of a meeting of the California NFLU Organizing Committee (May 15), and a memorandum from Mitchell to Cong. Leonard Irving on a proposed investigation of farm labor by the House Education and Labor Committee (June 30). There is an exchange between Mitchell and Rev. Johnnie F. Moore on the difficulties of organizing Florida citrus works (May 17, 24), and another exchange between Mitchell and Roger N. Baldwin on the quality of the work of Ernesto Galarza (June 9,10). Also on June 9, the reader will find a copy of an extremely important report by George I. Sanchez and Lyle Sounders of the University of Texas entitled "Wetbacks"

The International Executive Agreement with Mexico was signed on August 1; the papers include a 12-page analysis of the pact by Galarza (Aug. 15) and an exchange between Mitchell and USES Director Robert C. Goodwin on the bracero program (Aug. 22; Sept. 19). On the NFLU legislative program, see especially a letter from Alabama Congressman George Grant on H.R. 5557 (July 15), and a detailed letter from Mitchell to Cong. Helen Gahagan Douglas on the various proposals before Congress concerning farm wages (Aug. 11). The overwhelming topic in the papers for September is the NFLU strike of 30,000 cotton pickers in the San Joaquin Valley in California. In addition to the numerous telegrams and press releases on the strike throughout the lengthy report which appear during October (Oct. 3,20). There is also a mimeographed copy of a letter from Mitchell to President Truman, requesting him to appoint a Presidential Commission to investigate the plight of the nation's farm workers (Sept 28)

The House Education and Labor Committee held hearings on the Di Giorgio strike in Bakersfield, California from November 12 to 14; the papers include an exchange between Mitchell and Alexander Schullman on the hearings (Oct 24,26), the NFLU brief, a nine-page report on the strike, a statement by Schullman, and an anti-union statement by Hank L. Strobel, a Monterey County grower (all filed at Nov. 12). The Di Giorgio Fruit Corporation filed a $2 million libel suit against the NFLU based on the film, "Poverty in the Valley of Plenty". On the libel suit, see the Complaint filed by the company (Oct 28), and a detailed letter from Schullman (Nov. 18). There are also two letters from Schullman on the union's victory in the Di Giorgio injunction case (Dec 27, 30). In mid-December, Mitchell succeeded in convincing the Advisory Council of the Bureau of Employment Security to go on record as opposed to the importation of foreign nationals for farm work; his lengthy statement to the Council appears in the papers (Dec. 14)

Memorandum, "Proposals for Revising and Bringing Up to Date H.R. 3856"; report on "Farm Labor and Farm Labor Housing"; AF of L statement on "Including Costs of Hired Farm Labor in the Parity Price Index"; pamphlets, leaflets, etc., printed in Spanish to explain the work of the NFLU to Mexican-Americans.

Folder 1231 -- Petitions on the importation of Mexican Nationals, signed chiefly by NFLU members in Missouri. One sample filmed

The Sixteenth Annual Convention was held at Fresno, California from January 13 to 15; the papers include the complete Proceedings, and the amended Constitution. There are a number of letters, press releases, and reports from Galarza throughout this period on the problems of 100,000 unemployed farm workers in California; see especially his radio address on this subject (March 28). A majority report of the House Education and Labor Sub-Committee on the Di Giorgio strike issued over the signature of Cong. Richard M. Nixon appears on March 9; the minority report appears in the undated section at the end of 1950. On Nixon's role in writing the report, see a letter from Alexander Schullman to Mitchell (March 18). There is a seven-page report from California organizer Hank Hasiwar on the Imperial Valley (Jan. 25) and an exchange between Mitchell and Schullman about setting up a voter registration drive among Florida citrus workers to aid the re-election of Senator Claude Pepper (March 6, 9).

The operation of the US Employment Service in California is the main topic in the papers for this Spring. See especially the long reports on NFLU organization in California is the main topic in the papers for this Spring. See especially the long reports on NFLU organization in California from staff members Galarza, Hasiwar, and Becker (April 6, 7, 10, n.d.), and an exchange between Mitchell and both Secretary of Labor Maurice J. Tobin and USES Director Robert C. Goodwin on the bracero problem in California (April 21; May 26,29; June 6). There is much detailed information on the California organizational set-up in the papers for June, including a report on the new membership drive in each local (June 1,2,15). The libel suit filed by the Di Giorgio Corporation against the union was settled in return for agreement to end the strike; see the copies of the legal agreement (May 8, 23) and a letter from Alexander Schullman to Mitchell on this subject (April 21). Throughout the year, the NFLU was involved in a dispute with the National Farmers' Union over the organization of dairy farmers in New York, Louisiana, and other states. For information on the dispute see Mitchell to NSF Executive Secretary Beth Biderman (April 6)

The President's Commission on Migrant Labor began to hold hearings on July 13; the papers include statements by the National Consumers League and the CIO (July 13), the NFLU (July 14), and a lengthy statement by Ernesto Galarza entitled "American and Foreign Farm Workers in California" (August 12). See also the letters from Mitchell to his organizers advising them on a strategy in dealing with the Commission (July 21, 25), and a letter from Texas organizer George F. Webber describing his testimony during the El Paso hearings (August 8)

The union called a strike of 3,500 tomato pickers at Tracy, California during September; the progress of the strike may be followed in the letters and telegrams from Ernesto Galarza. An NFLU strike which involved 20,000 California cotton pickers took place in October, but the only information on it appears in a press release announcing the settlement of the strike (Oct 30). Other items of special interest include: an NFLU Farm Labor Supply Agreement (Sept 7); a letter from Secretary of State Dean Acheson to William Green on the farm labor agreement with Mexico (Sept 18); and a memorandum from Mitchell to USES on "The Refusal of Employers to Accept American Agricultural Workers for Employment" (Sept. 27)

There is a great deal of correspondence from Ernesto Galarza, including two letters to Dr. Varden Fuller of the President's Commission on Migrant Labor on the Mexican immigration problem (Nov. 28, 30) and a long report on the Imperial Valley (Dec. 31). The papers include a report by Rev. Arthur C. Churchill on his work as Minister to Farm Labor in the Mid-South (Nov. 18), and the testimony of Mitchell to an unidentified government loyalty board on behalf of Val Lorwin (Dec. 20).

"The Condition of Farm Workers in 1950", a report by NSF Executive Secretary Beth Biderman; NFLU pamphlet, "A Letter to Shed Workers Affiliated with FTA"; exhibits submitted to the President's Commission on Migrant Labor; statements to the President's Commission by Leon B. Schachter and William Green; minority report of the Sub-Committee of the House Education and Labor Committee investigating the Di Giorgio strike; draft o fNFLU local union by-laws; "Analysis of Work Performed by Organizers Assigned by A.F. of L. to NFLU"; summary of monthly reports of NFLU locals in the Mid-South during 1950; correspondence from Ernesto Galarza; activity report of NFLU Puerto Rico organizer Carl S. Lara

Negotiations between the United States and Mexico on the renewal of the International Executive Agreement on Migratory Labor began on January 26; on this subject, see the detailed reports from Ernesto Galarza in Mexico City (Jan. 27 to Feb. 12) and two NFLU press releases (Jan 26; Feb. 7). A massive NFLU organizing drive began in the Imperial Valley of California; see especially an exchange between Mitchell and Galarza on strategy (Jan 10, 17), and letters from organizer Hank Hasiwar to the Department of Labor on violations of the Mexican Agreement by Imperial Valley growers (Feb 5, 8). There is a report from F.T. Riley on a non-NFLU strike of 5,000 Florida fruit pickers (Feb. 2; note: newspaper clippings pasted to the report have been blocked out), and two letters from Hasiwar on his temporary assignment re-organizing the Louisiana Fruit and Vegetable Producers Union (Feb. 21, 28)

The papers contain an abundance of material on the Imperial Valley campaign, including: a lengthy report by Galarza on the Valley (March 12); a report listing the individual growers accused of violating the US-Mexican Agreement, with attached correspondence between the NFLU and various government officials on the problem (March 29); and an NFLU press release on the union's demands to the Imperial Valley Farmers Association (April 27). There are reports from Galarza and Texas organizer George F. Webber on their attempts to make contact with Mexican unions to help stop the "wetback" flow (March 9; April 5). The President's Commission on Migratory Labor released its report during April; the report itself does not appear in the papers, but there is an NFLU press release on it and a letter from Mitchell to his staff on getting the Commission's recommendations implemented (April 9)

From May 23 to June 25, the NFLU led a strike of 6,000 fruit and vegetable workers in the Imperial Valley in an effort to win collective bargaining and an end to the exploitation of "wetback" labor. A voluminous number of letters, telegrams, and press releases throughout both months details the progress of the strike. The failure of the Department of Labor to remove "wetbacks" who were serving as strikebreakers became a major issue in the strike. Documents of special interest include: a copy of a legal complaint filed by the NFLU against the Department of Labor to force the Department to remove all Mexican Nationals from the strike area (May 31); a seven-page confidential memorandum by Hank Hasiwar on the "Operation of s of the NFLU in the Imperial Valley, February-May, 1951" (n.d. [May]); a long letter from Mitchell to the Department of Labor, accusing it of acting as "an employment agency for strikebreakers" (June 25); and a 23-page NFLU report entitled "The Wetback Strike" (filed at June 25). In addition to the Imperial Valley strike, there are two memoranda by organizer Bill Becker on "Imported Labor in the Salinas Valley" (May 4,11).

The papers include: a memorandum from Mitchell to his organizing staff on future plans for the union (July 3); the minutes of the NFLU San Joaquin Valley Council (July 8); an exchange between Mitchell and Roger Baldwin reviewing the work of Ernesto Galarza (July 19, 26); the full proceedings of the NFLU California State Convention (Sept. 14); and a letter from California lawyer Alexander H. Schullman on ways of dealing with the US Wage Stabilization Board, which had announced a ceiling on the wages of cotton pickers (Sept. 17)

Items of special interest include a report from Galarza on an arrangement for joint membership worked out with the Alianza Ncional de Braceros de Mexico (2), and a copy of a letter from Ed S. Miller of the Hotel and Restaurant Worker's Union to Schenley Industries, Inc., threatening a boycott of Schenley products if the company does not resume bargaining with the NFLU (30)

On Nov. 5, the Department of Labor wrote Mitchell to answer various questions he had submitted on the Mexican labor importation program; on Dec. 19, he sent the Department a memorandum on the changes the NFLU desired in the program. The Seventeenth Annual Convention was held in Memphis on December 8 and 9; the papers include the full proceedings, the Report of the National Executive Board, and the revised Constitution (Dec. 8). There is a letter from Mitchell to AFL President William Green suggesting possible AFL representatives for the new Farm Labor Advisory Council being set up by the Department of Labor (Nov. 19).

"Comments on the Migrant Labor Agreement of 1951" by Ernesto Galarza; a speech by Hank Hasiwar on California farm labor problems; "The Condition of Farm Workers in 1951", a report by NSF Executive Secretary Beth Biderman; an NFLU press release on the decision of Salinas lettuce growers to plow up half of their crop rather than submit to NFLU demands; and a letter from Galarza on the "wetback" problem

The main topic in the papers for these months is the hearings held by Senator Hubert H. Humphrey's Sub-Committee on Labor and Labor-Management Relations on legislation to implement the recommendations of the President's Commission on Migratory Labor. Materials of the President's Commission on Migratory Labor. Materials on this subject include information on the NFLU preparations for the hearings (Jan. 8 to 13), and statements by Louisiana strawberry farmer Lester Felder, California migrant workers Juanita Garcia and Hughe C. Williams, NFLU Vice-President F. R. Betton, Rev. Arthur C. Churchill, and organizer George Stith (Feb. 14). There is a letter from organizer Bill Becker on the latest developments in the dispute with the Schenley Co. (Jan 2), and a union press release on a wildcat strike by Schenley grape pickers at Delano, California (Jan. 10). The papers include a report by Galarza on "The Present Situation in the Imperial Valley" (Feb. 1), and a number of detailed letters from Hank Hasiwar, who had moved to Louisiana to organize strawberry farmers and began his stay with a highly successful two-day strike (Jan. 7; Feb 22, 25)

The Schenley Ranch at Delano, California laid off 100 workers, all NFLU members, and the union, claiming it was a lock-out, asked various AF of L Central Labor Councils to put Schenley products on the "unfair" list. The Schenley dispute may best be followed through the correspondence to and from Bill Becker, the NFLU organizer at Delano. There are three union press releases on the dispute (March 20, 25, 29). The papers include two detailed press releases, one from the Department of Labor and one from the union, on a meeting of the USES Federal Advisory Council which recommended that the Department conduct on-the-spot hearings on the availability of domestic labor before permitting the certification of foreign contract nationals (April 3,4)

A meeting took place on May 6 between Schenley officials and the union; for two distinctly different accounts of the meeting, see both a letter from the company to William Green and a report from organizer Bill Becker (7). There is also a report on the number of union members at the Schenley Ranch (1). AF of L Southern Director of Organization J.L. Rhodes served as a labor representative at the negotiations with Mexico on the renewal of the Migratory Labor Agreement; the papers include his formal report (23) and a copy of his personal report to William Green (20). There is an exchange between George Forstall, Secretary-Treasurer of the Louisiana Fruit and Vegetable Producers Union, and Mitchell over a Justice Department investigation to determine if the union's co-operative marketing scheme for strawberries violated the anti-trust laws (22, 28). Toward the end of the month, tension began to build once again in the Imperial Valley of California; see the correspondence from Galarza (26,29,31) and his report on the situation (24)

[Note: the union changed its name to the National Agricultural Workers Union (NAWU) as of June.] Due to an NAWU strike threat, the Department of Labor began a crackdown on the use of "wetbacks" and "braceros" in the Imperial Valley. The letters of a joyous Ernesto Galarza provide details on the union's victory, as does an NAWU press release (June 15). The union won a partial victory in the dispute with Schenley; Bill Becker reported the details of the agreement in a June 5 letter to AFL Central Unions. The NAWU strawberry growers in Louisiana staged some kind of strike action during June, but there is almost nothing about it in the papers except for a July 1 letter from organizer Hank Hasiwar. There is an interesting exchange between Mitchell and Hasiwar during August on plans to organize Louisiana sugar cane workers (9,19,20). The union also called a successful strike of melon-pickers at Los Banos, California which resulted in the deportation of 300 wetbacks; see the letters from Galarza (Aug. 25 and n.d. [August]) and a press release (Aug. 23). Finally, there is a list of workers sent by the NAWU Mid-South office to the H.J. Heinz Co. in Salem, NJ for seasonal work (Aug. 3)

The main topic during September is Francisco Cano, a Mexican contract worker sent to Washington by Galarza to complain to the Mexican Ambassador about his exploitation at the hands of California growers. Details on the Cano mission appear in the correspondence of Galarza and in an NAWU press release (Sept 9). Readers interested in the union's work with strawberry farmers in Louisiana might consult a two-page narrative by Mitchell on the background and current operations of the Louisiana Fruit and Vegetable Producers Union (Oct 7). Thre was a very important meeting of the NAWU National Executive Board held in Louisiana on October 24 and 25; the papers include the minutes and a set of resolutions which set forth the future plans of the union

The October meeting of the National Executive Board decided on several drastic changes in the union's operations, among them the closing down of the NAWU office in Fresno, California and the firing of Fresno organizer William Swearingen, who had allegedly permitted Communists to join his local. The papers for November and December are full of long, philosophical letters between Mitchell and his key organizers (Galarza, Hasiwar, and Becker) on the shake-up and on the NAWU's future strategy. There is also a set of notes by Galarza setting forth the pros and cons of the Department of Labor's plan to fix the prevailing wages of braceros (Nov. 19) and his five-page statement on the practice of deducting the cost of tie-wires (Twistems) from the wages of carrot tiers (Dec. 5). Finally, the union filed claims with the Department of Agriculture for the unpaid wages of 392 Louisiana sugar cane workers; see two letters from Hank Hasiwar to the Department (Nov. 3,6) and a NAWU press release on this subject (Dec 17). The Department's reply appears on April 10, 1953

Notes on Farm Workers -- 1952, a sketch by Mitchell sent to the NSF; an outline by Galarza for his Spring, 1952 campaign in the Imperial Valley; a 12-page report by Hank Hasiwar on "Wages and Working Conditions of Sugar Cane workers on Louisiana Plantations"; Supplemental Statement by the NFLU submitted to the Senate Subcommittee on Labor and Labor-Management Relations; a 27-page statement by Galarza on "The Operation and Effects of the International Executive Agreement of 1951 For the Recruitment and Employment of Mexican Nationals in Agriculture in the U.S."

Folder 1317 -- List of workers sent to H.J. Heinz Co., 1952.

To forestall possible anti-trust litigation by the Department of Justice, a co-operative marketing association was set up among the NAWU strawberry farmers in Louisiana; for details on the new co-op, see Mitchell to Hank Hasiwar (Jan. 14) and two letters from NAWU attorney Daniel H. Pollitt (Jan. 19, Feb 13). In a memorandum to AFL President George Meany, Mitchell proposed a $500,000 organizing drive among agricultural workers (Jan 6); see also a letter from Mitchell to Churchill on the current status of the negotiations with Meany (Feb 9). There is an interesting exchange between the USES and Mitchell on an attempt by the US Sugar Corp. to recruit workers in Memphis, in which Mitchell claimed that the company deliberately sabotaged its own recruitment efforts in order to procure Jamaican workers through USES (Jan 9, Feb 11). The papers also contain a lengthy report from Galarza on "The Status on the Wetback Problem in the Imperial Valley" (Feb. 25), as well as a Department of Labor survey on labor needs in the Valley from January to June, 1953 (Jan 19)

Mitchell spent most of March in Havana, Cuba, serving as AFL representative to the World Conference on Plantation Workers sponsored by the International Labor Organization. There are no papers from the Conference itself, but there are three drafts of reports on what transpired, including two by Mitchell (n.d. [March], April 30) and one by Clara M. Beyer, Associate Director of the U.S. Bureau of Labor Standards (April 21). The NAWU San Joaquin Valley Council began to become active again after the shake-up of the previous November; see the minutes and bulletins issued by the Council (March 1, 8, n.d. [March], April 12). On union activity in the Imperial Valley, see the gloomy reports of Ernesto Galarza (March 5, 17; April 29)

The main topic during these two months is a series of upcoming legal battles in California and Louisiana. In California, the union was considering court action to stop the displacement of domestic workers by Mexican Nationals and, at the same time, to prevent the deportation of those contract Nationals who had joined the NAWU. On this subject, see the correspondence with Galarza and with San Francisco lawyer James A. Murray. In Louisiana, the NAWU Fruit and Vegetable Producers Union faced possible anti-trust prosecution based on its co-operative arrangement for marketing strawberries; the papers include a letter from Mitchell to La. organizer Hank Hasiwar on legal strategy (May 19), a seven-page letter from Mitchell to Stanley Barnes, Chief of the Anti-Trust Division of the Department of Justice, pleading with him not to prosecute (June 11), and two letters from C. Paul Barker, the New Orleans lawyer representing the NAWU in the case (June 19, 26)

There is a memorandum from NAWU lawyer Daniel H. Pollitt on the negotiations with the Department of Justice to delay the anti- trust case (Aug. 10); see also the copy of the indictment (July 29). Beginning on July 29, there is a three-cornered exchange between the Louisiana Sugar Workers Union, the Louisiana State Department of Labor and various sugar companies on the subject of arranging bargaining sessions between the union and the growers. On the sugar workers campaign, see also a statement from Hank Hasiwar to the USDA on fair minimum wage rates fro Louisiana sugar workers (July 16), and a five-page letter from Hasiwar to Archbishop Joseph Francis Rummel of New Orleans giving a detailed account of the controversy (Aug. 28). On the campaign to stop the importation of Mexican contract Nationals into California, see Mitchell's report on his meeting with officials of the Mexican Federation of Labor (Aug. 6), his letter to Attorney General Herbert Brownell (Aug. 19), and a 33-page NAWU report on "The Use of Contract Nationals and Its Effects on the Employment of Domestic Agricultural Workers in the Imperial Valley of California" (n.d. [August])

The union's lawyers made an unsuccessful attempt to settle the Louisiana anti-trust case by arranging for a consent decree; see the report by Joseph L. Rauh, Jr. and Daniel Pollitt on their negotiations with the Justice Department (Sept. 21; Oct. 30), and the draft of the proposed consent decree (n.d. [Oct.]). On Oct. 12, the NAWU Sugar Workers Union began a strike of 1,200 workers in Louisiana to demand union recognition. There are press releases and bulletins throughout October on the strike; see also the summaries of telephone reports from Galarza on what was happening in the strike area (Oct 15,17), a statement on the strike by the Catholic Committee of the South (Oct 16), and a report by Mitchell on "The Denial of Constitutional Rights to Sugar Cane Plantation Workers in Louisiana" (Oct. 27). Finally, there is a letter from Mitchell to members of the USES Farm Labor Advisory Council on a new plan to issue work permits to Mexican Nationals at the border (Oct. 14)

The Louisiana sugar workers strike ended on November 9 when the union decided to honor the court injunctions obtained by the various sugar companies. The papers include copies of the various legal documents filed in Louisiana courts (Nov. 2 to 5), a ten-page report by lawyer Paul Barker summarizing the legal proceedings (Nov. 8), a copy of the Petition For a Writ of Certiorari submitted to the Supreme Court (Nov 28), a confidential memorandum by Mitchell on the strike (n.d. [Nov]), and a letter from the Louisiana State Federation of Labor enclosing a list of the contributors to the strike fund (Dec. 11). On the anti-trust suit against the NAWU strawberry growers in Louisiana, see the letter from Daniel Pollitt to Paul Barker on the continuing negotiations with the Justice Department (Nov. 26) and a letter from Mitchell to Hank Hasiwar on the possible settlement of the case (Dec. 31)

Constitution of the San Joaquin Valley Farm Labor Contractors' Association; budget and plans for the California NAWU; Statement of the Southern Sugar Council - CIO on the Louisiana sugar strike; "A Report on Organization of Agricultural Workers"; memorandum from Mitchell to Walter P. Reuther proposing a CIO International of agricultural and processing workers; memorandum from Daniel H. Pollitt on "Secondary Boycott -- Merger of Agricultural and Packing Shed Locals"

During January, the NAWU issued a loud protest over the new Department of Labor policy of issuing work permits to Mexican Nationals at the US border; see especially the memoranda from Galarza (Jan 19,20, n.d.), and a memorandum from Mitchell to AFL President George Meany on this subject (Jan. 27). The Federal District Judge in New Orleans hearing the anti-trust case against the NAWU strawberry growers refused to accept the settlement worked out between the union and the Justice Department; for details, see the letters from Mitchell to Galarza and to New Orleans lawyer C. Paul Barker (Jan. 26,28). Mitchell also wrote organizer Felix Dugas at length on reorganizing the Louisiana Fruit and Vegetable Producers' Union into a "Co-operative Marketing Union" (Feb. 16). The Eighteenth Annual Convention was held in New Orleans on February 6 and 7; the papers include the full proceedings (Feb 6).

The anti-trust suit filed by the Justice Department against the Louisiana Fruit and Vegetable Producers Union finally came to trial on April 28; the papers include the full transcript of the court proceedings (April 28) and a great deal of correspondence from the various lawyers involved in the case . Also running through both months is a spate of correspondence between Galarza and Mitchell on arranging a unified plan of action with the CIO and with a number of Mexican unions in an effort to stop the influx of Mexican workers into California. There is an eyewitness account by Mitchell of an incident in the US House of Representatives in which a band of Puerto Rican Nationalists went on a shooting spree and wounded several Congressmen (March 1)

As Galarza reported to Mitchell, the United Packinghouse Workers of America (UPWA) in California was beginning to undermine the NAWU position by enticing away organizers and union members (May 29, 30; June 3). Both Mitchell and Galarza sent letters of protest to George Meany, charging that UPWA activities in California and Louisiana were in violation of the AFL-CIO No-Raiding Agreement (June 1, 10). There is no written reply from Meany, but see Mitchell's letter to Galarza recounting his telephone conversation with Meany on this problem and on the future of the NAWU (June 4). The papers also include an exchange between NAWU lawyers Joseph Rauh, Jr. and Paul Barker on further problems with the Louisiana Fruit and Vegetable Producers Union (May 17, 19)

The NAWU and the UPWA met twice during the summer to attempt to set up a Joint Organizing Committee of Agricultural and Packinghouse Workers; see the memorandum on the July meeting (July 2), a letter from Mitchell to Meany on the August meeting (Aug. 3), and the drafts of proposals for the joint organizing effort (Aug. 4, 15). There is an interesting exchange between Mitchell and New Orleans lawyer Aubrey B. Hirsch on the Right-to-Work Bill recently passed by the Louisiana legislature and on the prospects for organizing sugar cane workers in general (July 9, 14, 16). See also the 159-page report by Galarza on "Louisiana Sugar Cane Workers" (n.d. [August). From August 6 to September 16, Mitchell was in Europe; the papers include his speech on "The Organization of Farm Workers USA" delivered before the International Landworkers Federation Congress in Stockholm (Aug. 17), and his "Report on Agricultural Labor Conditions in the Netherlands" (Sept 10)

Negotiations continued with AFL and CIO officials on arranging a joint organizing drive for agricultural workers and on stopping the encroachments of the UPWA on NAWU territory. For a running account of the dispute with UPWA, see the correspondence between Mitchell and Galarza during October and November and the exchange between Mitchell and Meat Cutter's Secretary-Treasurer Patrick Gorman (Oc.t 8, 19). The CIO called a strike at the South Coast Sugar Corporation Sugar Refinery at Mathews, Louisiana, and Galarza went to Mathews to help out; see his lengthy memorandum and letter to Victor Reuther complaining about the CIO handling of the strike (Nov. 16, Dec 8). On the Louisiana sugar situation, there is also a memorandum by Mitchell on "An Organizing Program in South Louisiana" (Dec. 16) and an exchange with New Orleans Lawyer C. Paul Barker on Galarza's plan to set up an independent union for sugar workers supported by the Catholic Church (Nov. 30; Dec. 2). At the union's request, the NLRB conducted elections in a number of Louisiana rice mills; see especially Mitchell to Arthur C. Churchill, enclosing a tally sheet summarizing the election results (Nov. 24)

The undated items for 1954 include the following reports and memoranda by H.L. Mitchell: "A Joint Organizing Program among agricultural field and processing workers in Southern California"; "A New Program for Unionizing Agricultural Workers"; "A Program to Organize Rice Industry in Louisiana"; "A Joint Organizing Campaign in Agriculture"; "AFL Assistance in Organizing Agricultural Workers, 1946-1954"; "A Report on the Sugar Cane Plantation Workers' Strike in Louisiana, USA, 1953". There is also a set of bulletins from the Memphis Agricultural Club

The Supreme Court of Louisiana handed down a decision in the Godchaux Sugars injunction case, which grew out of the 1953 NAWU sugar strike; the papers include a copy of the court decision (Jan. 13) and two letters from lawyer Daniel H. Pollitt to Paul Barker on appealing the case to the US Supreme Court (Jan 19; Feb 9). There are two particularly interesting exchanges of correspondence between Galarza and Mitchell, one on the conflict with the UPWA in California and Louisiana (Feb 2, 4) and one on the implications of the AFL-CIO merger for the NAWU (Feb 10, 21, 25). There are two letters from AFL organizer A.S. Reile in Hawaii on the organization of sugar and pineapple workers on the island of Oahu (Jan. 6; Feb. 8), and a memorandum by Mitchell proposing the establishment of an Agricultural Workers Benefit Fund as an organizing device (Feb 7)

The forthcoming AFL-CIO merger was very much on the minds of the NAWU leadership; see the memorandum by Galarza on this subject (March 10), a set of notes on a conversation with AFL Secretary-Treasurer William F. Schnitzler on the NAWU's problems (March 24), and a petition from the NAWU Executives Board to the AFL asking for a clarification of the union's status under the merger (April 3). There are three letters from Daniel Pollitt on the difficulties of appealing the Godchaux Sugars case to the Supreme Court (March 2; April 6, 26). The papers include the minutes of a meeting of the US Section of the Joint U.S.-Mexican Trade Union Committee, as well as a copy of a long letter by Milton Plumb, Secretary of the Committee, explaining its plans to cope with the "wetback" problem (March 3; April 21)

The papers for May contain four important reports by Ernesto Galarza on: a special meeting of the "Bishop's Committee on Spanish Speaking" in Corpus Christi, Texas (4); the raiding operations of UPWA in California and Louisiana (4); the present status of the "wetback" problem (9), and on the organization of sugar and pineapple workers in Hawaii (28). Mitchell attempted to raise funds for a campaign to organize the rice industry in Louisiana, see his memorandum on this subject (May 19) and his letter to Frank P. Graham (June 9). Mitchell gives a detailed account of the problems of organizing sugar workers in a letter to Harry Poole, Vice-President of the Meat Cutter's Union (June 3). See also his letter to Victor Reuther and his memorandum to UPWA proposing a joint organizing drive in Louisiana (June 21, 27).

The papers for July are filled with official forms from the NLRB having to do with elections held in various Louisiana rice mills, all lost by the NAWU. On the rice workers campaign, see also the correspondence between Mitchell and NAWU organizer Joe Guidry (July 5,11,15,20). The UPWA strike against two Louisiana sugar companies went into its fourteenth week at the beginning of August; the papers include a seven-page UPWA statement (Aug. 1), a report by Mitchell (n.d. [August]), and a letter from Mitchell to Galarza on the strike (Aug. 15). There is a 14-page memorandum by Mitchell proposing a campaign to organize corporation farm employees once the AFL-CIO merger is completed (July 6) and a NAWU statement to the Louisiana Sugar Cane Wage Hearings held at Thibadeaux, Louisiana (July 29)

In late September, a mob in Holmes County, Mississippi, called together by the local White Citizens Council, ordered NAWU Secretary-Treasurer A. E. Cox and Dr. David Minter of the Providence Cooperative Farm to leave the state. Mitchell and the NSF immediately began efforts to investigate the situation and to secure FBI protection for Cox and Minter. Correspondence relating to their efforts begins on September 29 and continues throughout October; see especially the reports by Mitchell (Oct 4) and by Rev Charles Jones of Chapel Hill, North Carolina (Oct 14). On the current status of the dispute with UPWA over Louisiana sugar workers, see Mitchell to Rev. Louis J. Twomey of Loyola University (Sept 6); on the union's organizing drive among rice workers, see the exchange between Joe Guidry and Mitchell (Sept. 18, 21). There is also a long letter from Mitchell to A. Philip Randolph on the importation of Jamaican farm labor into the United States (Oct. 10)

Following the Cox incident, Mitchell began an investigation of the activities of White Citizens Councils in the South, with a special view toward their anti-labor animus. The papers include two versions of his report (Nov. 21; Dec 1), a letter from the Southern Education Reporting Service listing various groups opposed to integration (Nov. 14) a similar list compiled by Mitchell (Dec 28), and an especially interesting letter from Mitchell to NSF Secretary Fay Bennett on the role of Southern liberals in the crisis (Nov. 14). There is a 14-page booklet published jointly by NSF and the League for Industrial Democracy entitled "Down on the Farm: The Plight of Agricultural Labor" (Dec. 1), and a letter from Mitchell to all NAWU members on the first AFL-CIO convention and the union's prospects in the new organization (Dec. 12)

Summary of Negotiations between the NAWU and UPWA; a memorandum by Mitchell on "Communists in the Packinghouse Workers Union"; a report by Mitchell on Senator Allen J. Ellender of Louisiana; a report entitled "Data on Trade Unions in Agriculture"; bulletins of the Memphis Agricultural Club; a list of the membership of NAWU Rice Workers Local 321, 1954-1956 [Note: Two similar lists which appear to contain duplicate information were not filmed.]

During 1956 the union became involved in protracted negotiations with the AFL-CIO leadership in an effort to secure financial help for a major organizing drive among farm workers; see Mitchell's memorandum to AFL-CIO Organization Director John W. Livingston (Jan. 12), an exchange between Mitchell and AMC Secretary-Treasurer Pat Gorman on the attitude of George Meany toward the NAWU (Jan. 19, 27), and a memorandum on a conversation between Galarza and Walter P. Reuther on the union's future plans (Feb. 22). There are two different versions of Mitchell's preliminary report on White Citizens Councils and their ties with anti-labor forces (Jan 25, 30); see also the letters from A. Philip Randolph (Jan 10, 23) and AFL-CIO Region VIII Director Paul R. Christopher (Feb 29) on the same subject. The papers contain a report by Milton Plumb, Secretary of the US Section of the Joint US-Mexican Trade Union Committee, on the British West Indies Labor Program (Jan 11), the minutes of two special meetings of the United Sugar Workers, Local 1422, at which the local voted for NAWU affiliation (Feb 9, 16), and three letters from AFL-CIO Southern Director J.L. Rhodeson organizing Florida citrus workers (Jan 30, Feb 15, 21)

There is a confidential memorandum by Mitchell to the AFL-CIO on the evidence of a major revolt among southern AFL-CIO members against the organization's civil rights policy (March 12); see also Mitchell's letters to AFL-CIO Civil Rights Director Boris Shiskin and to Walter Reuther on the same subject (March 7; April 26). There is also an exchange between Mitchell and George Meany on the subject of organizing small farmers (March 28; April 13). The papers include two unpublished magazine articles by Mitchell on the racial crisis in southern labor unions (May 1,15), and an importantly letter from Mitchell to E.J. Bourg, Secretary-Treasurer of the Louisiana State Labor Council, on that organization's campaign to repeal the Louisiana Right-to-Work Law (May 31); see also the NAWU "Fact Sheet " on the repeal campaign (June 23)

The major issue in the papers during these months is the alleged "deal" made by the Louisiana State Labor Council to secure repeal of the state's Right-to-Work Law by excluding agricultural workers from the repeal. On this subject, see a 21-page maw report entitled "Dateline for a Deal" (Aug 20), Mitchell's draft pamphlet (Sept. 5), a WDL memorandum (Sept. 21), and a letter from George Meany on the AFL-CIO Executive Council's decision in the controversy (Sept 18). There are several reports from Galarza on the situation in Louisiana (July 22; Sept 3, 6, n.d. [Sept]), as well as his account of a meeting of the AFL-CIO Industrial Union Council in Denver at which he brought up the subject of the "deal" (July 17, 19). Galarza's report on the bracero problem in California entitled Strangers in Our Fields was published in July; the papers include a copy of the report (July 29) and several letters from California growers' associations and from the Department of Labor protesting supposed errors in the booklet (Sept 11, 20, 26, 28). The NAWU began negotiations with the Amalgamated Meat Cutters Union about a possible merger; see Mitchell's correspondence with AMC Secretary Patrick Gorman and his memorandum on the proposed merger (July 7)

The proposed merger between the NAWU and the AMC is the main topic in the correspondence at the end of 1956. Items of special interest related to the merger negotiations include Mitchell's statement to the AMC International Executive Board (Oct 6), an exchange between Galarza and Mitchell on the negotiations (Nov 6, 13), a memorandum on a conference with George Meany to discuss the merger (Oct 16), and a copy of a letter from Gardner Jackson to NFU President James G. Patton, asking him to write George Meany to urge greater AFL-CIO interest in agricultural workers (Dec 26). There is a 12-page reply from Galarza to USES Director Robert C. Goodwin's criticisms of Strangers in Our Fields (Oct. 22) and a letter from UPWA President Ralph Helstein claiming that his union has complete jurisdiction over the sugar industry (Dec. 21)

A report by NSF on "The Condition of Farm Workers in 1956"; UPWA statement on the US-Mexican International Agreement; list of 41 NAWU "experienced agricultural organizers", including a brief biographical sketch of each organizer; a 26-page NAQU Study Outline For Officers of Local Unions; biographical sketches of Mississippi politicians with supposed connections with the White Citizens Council

Folder 1424 -- Not Filmed.

The negotiations with the Amalgamated Meat Cutters over the proposed merger may be followed through Mitchell's correspondence with Galarza and with Patrick Gorman throughout the winter. In the middle of February, the AFL-CIO Industrial Union Council granted the NAWU $25,000 for a special program to obtain the enforcement of P.L. 78, which stated that domestic workers should have job preference over foreign nationals in farm work. See the exchange between Mitchell and Walter Reuther on the grant (Feb. 18, 21), as well as Mitchell to Galarza on his recent conversation with Victor Reuther, who explained the internal AFL-CIO politics responsible for the grant (March 8). There is a letter from Mitchell to AFL-CIO Secretary-Treasurer William F. Schnitzler on the latest developments in the dispute with UPWA (March 14), and a report by Galarza on his conversation with UPWA President Ralph Helstein (March 22). The Nineteenth Convention was held in Memphis on March 30; the papers include the full proceedings and the Report of the Executive Board

The jurisdictional dispute between the NAWU and UPWA over sugar workers began to heat up; see especially the exchange between Mitchell and Rev. Louis J. Twomey of Loyola University (April 5, 10), the angry exchange between Mitchell and UPWA Vice-President A.T. "Tony" Stephens (June 5,11,16), and the report of the NAWU Louisiana organizing staff on their meeting with Stephens (June 20). There are also two letters from Mitchell to all sugar workers' locals directly affiliated with AFL- CIO, suggesting that they join a proposed autonomous department within NAWU (April 15; May 17), and a letter from Mitchell to Galarza on his trip to Louisiana and the strawberry farmers (May 5). Finally, there is a statement by Mitchell to the House Judiciary Sub-Committee on the recent importation of Japanese farm workers into California (May 16)

The dispute with UPWA over Louisiana sugar workers continued through the summer; see especially Mitchell to William Schnitzler, with attached correspondence relating to the dispute (July 10) and the frequent exchanges of letters between Mitchell and Galarza during September on UPWA and on California organizing plans in general. In his effort to publicize the plight of domestic farm workers under the bracero system, Galarza focused on a group of 100 families at a Yuba City government camp desperately in need of relief. There are several items relating to the Yuba City poverty beginning on August 8 and continuing to the end of the month; see also Galarza's mimeographed report on conditions in Sutter County (Sept 16). The papers include the transcripts of hearings held by the House Judiciary Committee during May on the importation of Japanese farm workers in to the United States (Aug 27, Sept 11); among the witnesses are C.B. Rhodes, Manager of the North California Farm Labor Association, and Edward F. Hayes, Chief of the US Farm Placement Service. The union renewed its organizing efforts among New Jersey chicken farmers and Louisiana strawberry growers. On the chicken farmers, see Mitchell to his brother "Little Boy", giving him instructions on how to set up the American Poultry Farmers Co-operative Association (July 5); on the NAWU's work with strawberry farmers, see Mitchell to Robert Senser, Associate Editor of Work (July 29).

During the last week of October, the leaders of the United Sugar Workers, Local 1422, decided to disaffiliate with the NAWU and return to UPWA. From October 26 on, the papers are primarily concerned with Mitchell's attempt to stem the revolt by placing the local in receivership and by sending organizer George Stith to Louisiana to win the support of the rank-and-file membership. The key documents include Galarza's report on his trip to Louisiana to appraise the situation (Nov 10), Stith's reports (Nov 21 to 27), and Mitchell's memorandum on the role of UPWA in the revolt (Nov 14). There is a set of notes by Galarza on a meeting of the Regional Labor Operations Advisory Committee of the US Bureau of Employment Security held in San Francisco (Oct 31), a copy of the Proceedings of the NSF Conference on Migratory Labor and Low Income Farmers (Nov 13) and a letter from Mitchell to Walter P. Reuther, stating that the NAWU will not consider a merger with UPWA as Reuther had apparently suggested (Nov. 5) ;

The reader may follow the progress of the attempt to re-organize Sugar Workers Local 1422 through the frequent reports of George Stith (3 to 14). There is a series of letters from Galarza to California Governor Goodwin J. Knight on specific violations of the US-Mexican International Agreement in the San Joaquin Valley (3 to 7); see also the reply from H.W. Stewart, Director of the California State Department of Employment (16). At the AFL-CIO Annual Convention in Atlantic City, Frank P. Graham called together a group of high-level labor leaders and proceeded to lecture them on the importance of organizing agricultural workers. Dr. Graham's talk inspired A. Philip Randolph, Leon Schachter, and ILGWU Vice-President Charles S. Zimmerman to write a memorandum to Walter P. Reuther proposing a survey on the prospects for organizing farm labor (12); see also Mitchell's account of the meeting in his letter to Father Donald McDonnell (17)

Several memoranda by Mitchell on NAWU organizing plans; "Facts and figures", a report on the size and structure of NAWU; NSF report on "The Condition of Farm Workers in 1957"

Plans developed rapidly for the survey proposed to Walter Reuther in December; see the memoranda by Mitchell and by the ad hoc committee to Reuther (Jan 6, 18), and Mitchell to Galarza on his conversation with Victor Reuther about the study (Feb 4). With the aid of Congressman James Roosevelt, the union attempted to obtain a Congressional investigation of alleged racketeering in the Mexican labor import program; for information on this campaign, see especially Galarza to Mitchell (Jan. 19), Mitchell to Nelson Cruikshank (Jan. 28), and an NAWU press release and memorandum on the proposed investigation (Feb. 17). There is a statement by NAWU organizer Raul M. Aguilar, who was refused work by an employer after being referred by the local Farm Placement Office (Jan 17), and two memoranda by Galarza on future organizing plans in California (Jan 28, Feb 27). On the continuing dispute with UPWA, see the formal NAWU complaint filed before the AFL-CIO No-Raiding Impartial Umpire (Jan 23), the correspondence between Mitchell and organizer George Stith on UPWA activity among Louisiana sugar workers, and Mitchell to Walter P. Reuther on the dispute (Feb 22)

The papers include a number of letters from Galarza on his fight to obtain enforcement of P.L. 78 by USES and the California State Farm Placement Service; see also the letters to Congressman John F. Shelley from USES Director Robert C. Goodwin and California Regional Director Glenn Brockway on the work of the Regional Foreign Labor Operations Advisory Committee in California (7, 14). Mitchell met with AFL-CIO Secretary-Treasurer William F. Schnitzler on March 25 to attempt to work out a compromise with UPWA; see his eight-page memorandum on the record of the negotiations with UPWA and his reports on the Schnitzler meeting to Galarza and to the NAWU Executive Board (25, 31). Finally, there is an interesting exchange between Mitchell and former NAWU organizer Henry Pelet on the Louisiana sugar situation (20, 24).

Due to Congressional pressure, the Department of Labor became more sensitive to NAWU demands to eliminate the abuses of the Labor Import Program. Mitchell met with officials of the Bureau of Employment Security at the beginning of Aril and during a somewhat stormy session of Labor's Advisory Committee on Farm Labor at the end of May; the papers include Mitchell's report to Galarza on the first meeting (April 10), a letter from BES Deputy Director E.L. Keenan on the proposals drawn up at the meeting (April 14), Galarza's criticism of those proposals (April 16, 19), and a memorandum on what took place at the meeting in May (May 27). See also Mitchell's letter to Congressman John F. Shelley charging that the minutes of the Regional Foreign Labor Operations Advisory Committee which Shelley had procured revealed a conspiracy between the BES and the large California growers (April 17). There is an eleven-page report by Galarza on his work during the past year to force the BES to provide jobs for domestic workers in California (April 17)

Mitchell spent the first part of the summer in California inspecting farm labor conditions; for details on what he found, see his highly pessimistic letters to Fay Bennett and Gardner Jackson (July 25, 30). Before he left for the West, Mitchell delivered a lengthy statement to the House Agriculture Committee opposing plans to make the Mexican Farm Labor Importation Program permanent (June 11). In the course of his testimony, Mitchell charged that California governor Goodwin J. Knight, then up for re-election, was involved in a shady deal involving Mexican farm workers; see Galarza's letters on the impact these charges had in California (June 13, 16) and letters from Gardner Jackson and David A. Munro on their efforts to obtain a signed statement on the charges from Mitchell's source of information (July 14, 17, 28). During this summer, the union conducted an "experiment", operating a labor supply program in conjunction with the Pennsylvania Farmers Association; for information on this venture, see the correspondence with the Association and with organizer George Stith throughout the summer

On Mitchell's trip to California, see his lengthy report to the NAWU Executive Board (Sept. 18) and his exchange with BES Director Robert C. Goodwin (Aug. 1, 8). Galarza, meanwhile, had become involved in the intense political campaign underway in California; the papers include a press release charging Governor Knight with duplicity in his policies toward agricultural workers (Aug. 20) and various items relating to the campaign to defeat Proposition 18, described as a Right-to-Work Law in disguise (Aug. 10; n.d. [Oct]). There is an NSF press release on the formation of a new National Advisory Committee on Farm Labor (Oct. 20), and a long letter from Frank L. Noakes, Chairman of the US Section, Joint US-Mexican Trade Union Committee, to Secretary of Labor Mitchell protesting the lack of compliance machinery in the Mexican Labor Import Program (Aug. 29)

The activities of the NAWU came to a virtual halt during these two months as the union waited to see what kind of support the AFL-CIO might grant. On the financial crisis, see especially the exchanges between Mitchell and NSF Executive Secretary Fay Bennett (Nov 12, 14), Walter Pl. Reuther (Nov 17, Dec 2), and A. Philip Randolph (Dec 2,5). There is a six-page letter from Galarza on his winter plans in California (Nov. 13), and a letter of equal length from Mitchell to broadcaster Edward P. Morgan on the problems of American farm labor (Dec. 3)

A letter from the Bureau of Employment Security providing statistical information on the farm labor recruitment program; two memoranda by Mitchell on setting up the National Advisory Committee on Farm Labor; "A Proposal For Organization of Agricultural and Allied Workers in Louisiana"; report by Galarza on foreign nationals in California; "Why Farmers Need a Union" by H. L. Mitchell

Folder 1540-B -- Correspondence with the Union Life Insurance Co. and with NAWU accountant A. Benjamin Hall. Folder 1540-C -- Correspondence with the AFL-CIO Industrial Union Department on per capita tax payments, and correspondence with local secretaries on dues payments. Folders 1540-D and -E -- Not Filmed.

On January 8, Mitchell met with George Meany, Walter Reuther, A. Philip Randolph, and Leon Schachter to formulate an AFL- CIO program for the organization of farm labor; the papers include a memorandum by Mitchell which gives a full account of the meeting (Jan. 8). On February 5 and 6, the National Advisory Committee on Farm Labor held widely-publicized hearings in Washington; the papers include statements by Mitchell, Galarza, NAWU organizers George Stith and Raul Aguilar, and California peach worker Delmer Berg, speeches by John M. Seabrook, President of Seabrook Farms, and AFL-CIO Secretary-Treasurer William Schnitzler, an illustrated NAWU booklet entitled "The Blight on the Countryside", and a 40-page "Report on Farm Labor" issued by the Committee (Feb. 5 and 6). There are five different sets of minutes of BES Advisory Committee meetings called to discuss the new set of regulations for farm labor recruitment proposed by the Department of Labor (Jan 27; Feb 9, 10, 11, 28). The American Farm Bureau Federation, alarmed by all this activity, sent out a report of its own to its state affiliates on the Advisory Committee hearings and the BES meetings (Feb 13). There is a letter from Mitchell to historian Arthur M. Schlesinger, Jr. on the account of the STFU which appears in Schlesinger's The Coming of the New Deal (Jan 26), and a set of letters from Mitchell to state officials in New York, New Jersey, and Pennsylvania, offering to supply their states with southern farm workers during the coming summer (Feb 13)

On the new AFL-CIO campaign to organize California farm workers, see Mitchell's letters to Galarza (March 26, April 3) and the position paper issued by the AFL-CIO entitled "An AFL-CIO Program to End Nineteenth Century Poverty in Twentieth Century America" (n.d. [April]). On the proposed revision of BES regulations governing the recruitment of domestic farm labor, see the Advisory Committee reports on the "Current Situation Relating to Proposed Regulations" (March 3) and Mitchell's letter to the Secretary of Labor, praising the new regulations but saying they do not go far enough (March 30). There is a memorandum from Mitchell to Walter Reuther on organizing Puerto Rican and Southern migrant farm workers (April 8), and a number of statements and press releases from the US Section, Joint US-Mexican Trade Union Committee (April 6,15,28)

The AFL-CIO Agricultural Workers Organizing Committee (AWOC) began its work in California uner the direction of former UAW organizer Norman Smith. There is a great deal of information on the progress of the AWOC in Mitchell's correspondence with Smith and Galarza throughout the summer; see also the agreement between NAWU and UPWA on jurisdiction over the workers organized by AWOC (21), and the letters from Mitchell to various AFL-CIO state labor councils asking them to circulate petitions among farm workers calling on the AFL-CIO for help in organizing (13). There is an exchange between Mitchell and Assistant Secretary of Labor Newell Brown on Mitchell's complaints that the BES is anti-union (1, 19), a memorandum from Leon Schachter to the AFL-CIO Industrial Union Department requesting assistance in organizing migrant farm workers in the Northeast (18), and a memorandum from Mitchell to NSF on plans for the union's 25th Anniversary celebration (25)

On the AWOC, see the frequent exchange of correspondence between Mitchell and both AWOC Director Norman Smith and Ernesto Galarza, as well as the minutes of an AWOC meeting (14). Two of Mitchell's letters to Smith and Galarza contain considerable information on the progress of the NAWU attempt to interest the AFL-CIO in a similar organizing campaign in the East (8,11). There is a memorandum by Mitchell to Senator Harrison A. Williams, Jr. on extending social welfare legislation to farm workers (4), and a joint letter to Smith and Galarza on NAWU strategy concerning the forthcoming hearings by Senator John F. Kennedy's Welfare and Labor Committee on minimum wages for farm labor (26). The papers also include a BES memorandum on "Procedures and Requirements -- Mexican Labor Program" (17)

The AWOC organizing campaign continued in California; see Galarza's five-page mimeographed letter to the Director of the California State Department of Employment detailing his complaints with the Department (July 7), and two AWOC Research Papers on "The Future Disposition of Public Law 78" and "The Wages that Prevail" (July 30; Aug 19). There is an interesting exchange between Mitchell and the Secretary of Labor over the NAWU charge that various state farm placement services are corrupt (Aug 5, 14, 18), and another exchange between Mitchell and Aurbrey Williams over Mitchell's request that Williams use his influence with Lyndon B. Johnson to convince Johnson to sponsor farm labor legislation (Aug 10, 21). There are letters from both NAWU lawyer Daniel H. Pollitt and Mitchell to Fred Blackwell, Counsel of the Senate Committee on Labor and Welfare, providing him with background information for the hearings to be conducted by the Sub-Committee on Migratory Labor (Aug 18,19), as well as a letter from Mitchell to Otto Feinstein of the University of Chicago reviewing the NAWU's relations with Mexican trade unions (Aug 24).

Along with the plans for the 25th Anniversary celebration, the importation of British West Indian farm workers into New York and New Jersey becomes the dominant issue in the papers this month. On this subject, see Mitchell's letter of complaint to the Department of Labor, see Mitchell's letter of complaint to the Department of Labor (1), a reply from New Jersey Governor Robert Meyner (10), a 17-page WDL report on "The Plight of the British West Indian and Bahamian Migrants" (28), and a letter from New Jersey Senator Harrison A. Williams, Jr. on his committee's planned investigation of migratory labor (5). The Department of Labor held hearings on the migrant problem; the papers include statements from the NAWU (2), the AWOC (9), and from the US Section, Joint US-Mexican Trade Union Committee (10). Finally, there is a copy of an NAWU resolution adopted by the Third AFL-CIO Convention on "Hired Farm Labor and Imported Contract Workers" (18)

A one-day celebration on October 17 commemorated the 25th Anniversary of the NAWU; the papers include a speech by Albert Whitehouse, Director of the AFL-CIO Industrial Union Department (17). There are two highly informative letters from Mitchell to Galarza summing up his impressions of the AWOC organizing campaign during his recent visit to California (3, 27), as well as several letters from Galarza on his complaint that the workers recruited by AWOC were all being sent into UPWA (22, 24, 28). There is an exchange between William T. O'Rear, Secretary of the Fresno (Calif.) Central Labor Council, and Mitchell on arranging a mass meeting of farm workers in Fresno in early December (12, 15, 28)

The dispute between the NAWU and UPWA concerning jurisdiction over the workers organized by the AWOC continued; see especially Mitchell's letters to Galarza and NSF Executive Secretary Fay Bennett on his talks with AFL-CIO officials on the problem (Nov 23) and Galarza's report on the AWOC campaign (Nov 6). On Mitchell's plans to set up a Southern AWOC, see his long letter to Dr. Frank A. Graham (Nov 27) and his draft of "A Program to Organize Southern Agricultural Workers" (n.d. [Nov]). There is a letter from Mitchell to Galarza on his conversation with Fred Blackwell, Council to Senator Harrison Williams' Sub-Committee on Migratory Labor, concerning the Committee's forthcoming hearings (Nov 24) and a memorandum by Galarza prepared to assist Blackwell (Nov 30). The papers also include an exchange between Mitchell and James W. Patton, Director of the Southern Historical Collection, on bringing the STFU Papers to Chapel Hill (Nov 30, Dec 8), and an unpublished article by Priscilla Roberson, written in 1937, on the life of Myrtle Lawrence, an Arkansas sharecropper and STFU member (Nov 3)

"Data on Hired Farm Labor", a report by Clay L. Cochran of the AFL-CIO Industrial Union Department staff; AWOC leaflets; magazine article by Mitchell, "Farming is Big Business"; article, "The Voice of the Disinherited: A Brief History of the Agricultural Workers Union, 1934-1959"; "A Program for Organizing Hired Farm Workers in the South"; "Draft of a Proposed Program on Hired Farm Labor"; report by Mitchell on "Operations of the National Sharecroppers Fund, Inc."; Report of the New York State joint Legislative Committee on Migrant Labor"; three letters for H. Clay East, first President of the STFU; "List of Persons Available to Carry Out Union Job Placement Program"

Folders 1573a and 1573b -- Routine correspondence with the Union Life Insurance Co., with local secretaries, etc. Folders 1573c to 1573g -- Not Filmed

A sudden crisis developed when Mitchell was informed by Walter Reuther that the AFL-CIO was about to revoke the NAWU's charter. As Mitchell and Galarza soon learned, the NAWU was caught in an internal AFL-CIO political battle between Reuther and George Meany, which involved the Amalgamated Meat Cutters and the UPWA as well. Fortunately, Mitchell typed up detailed memoranda after each of the crucial meeting held during the crisis; the papers include memoranda on Mitchell's conversations with Reuther include memoranda on Mitchell's conversations with Reuther and A. Philip Randolph (Jan 6), with the AMC and UPWA over a possible merger with NAWU (Jan 19), with Victor Reuther (Jan 25), with Walter Reuther again (Feb 25), with George Meany (March 3), and with AWOC Director Norman Smith (March 9). Mitchell's 12- page statement to the NAWU National Advisory Council provides an overview of the sequence of events (n.d. [March])

The union's crisis remained at a standstill until May 6, when George Meany telephoned Mitchell to inform him of the AFL-CIO Executive Council's decision that the NAWU must return its charter; see Mitchell's memorandum on the conversation (May 6). Negotiations began almost at once with the Amalgamated Meat Cutters Union to formulate a merger agreement; see Mitchell's detailed memorandum to Leon Schachter on arranging the merger (May 19), his letter to Galarza on the telephone conversation between Meany and AMC Secretary-Treasurer Patrick Gorman (May 25), and the resolution on the merger submitted to the NAWU membership in a referendum (May 26). There are numerous reports from Galarza on the situation in California, a set of AWOC bulletins on its activities (April 21, 25, 26), and a press release from the Di Giorgio Fruit Corporation announcing a $2 million libel suit against the NAWU, the AWOC, and the UPWA for showing the film "Poverty in the Valley of Plenty" which the NAWU had agreed to remove from circulation in 1950 (May 18).

On August 2, 1960, the NAWU ended its existence as an AFL-CIO International Union and became a department of the Amalgamated Meat Cutters Union. Important items relating to the merger include: a long letter from Mitchell to Harry R. Poole (June 3); the minutes and report of the NAWU Executive Board (June 26); a letter from Mitchell to all NAWU locals announcing the final tally of the membership vote on the merger (July 18); Mitchell's memorandum to the AMC on an organizing campaign among agricultural and allied workers (July 19); and the final merger agreement (Aug 2). On the continuing dispute with the AWOC and UPWA, see Mitchell's letters to Galarza and Fay Bennett (June 1, 2), the rather bitter exchange between UPWA President Ralph Helstein and Mitchell (June 6, 10, 17), the correspondence from AWOC Director Norman Smith (June 2; July 9; Aug 3), and Gorman to Mitchell on his conversation with Meany on securing eventual AMC jurisdiction over the field workers organized by AWOC (July 21). There is a copy of "Workers in Our Fields", an illustrated booklet published by the NAWU on its 25th anniversary (n.d. [June])

The papers include the minutes of the first meeting of the Executive Board of Agricultural and Allied Workers Union, Local 300 (Sept 24). On Mitchell's activities, including his initial organizing trip to Louisiana as an AMC representative, see his letters to AMC Executive Vice-President Harry R. Poole (Sept 11, 19; Oct 25). Mitchell began to formulate plans for a low-key educational campaign for civil rights in the rural South; see his memorandum to NSF on this subject (Oct 10), as well as his letters to NSF Chairman Frank P. Graham and Board Member Cyrus I. Gordon (Oct 12, 31). There are letters to Dr Graham written in support of Mitchell's proposal from Daniel H. Pollitt (Oct. 14 ) and Gardner Jackson (Oct 20)

The apparent failure of AWOC in California and the influence of UPWA on the AWOC continued to trouble Mitchell; see his exchange with Patrick Gorman (Nov 1, 16), Galarza's letters on the California situation (Dec 12, 24), a memorandum from Franz Daniel to George Meany replying to Mitchell's charges that AWOC was UPWA-dominated (Dec 9), and Mitchell to Gorman, commenting on the memorandum at length (Dec 29). On Mitchell's growing involvement in the civil rights campaign in the South, the papers include his report on a staff meeting on the AFL-CIO Civil Rights Department (Nov 14), a statement by Harry Fleishman, Director of the National Labor Service of the American Jewish Committee on "Equality and the Unions" (Nov 14), and Mitchell to AFL-CIO Civil Rights Director Boris Shiskin on discrimination against blacks in Memphis unions (Nov 28). On the plans for a new AMC organizing drive among agricultural workers, see especially the exchange between Mitchell and both AMC President Thomas J. Lloyd and Patrick Gorman (Dec 5, 8, 9)

Statement of H.L. Mitchell on "Regulations on Referral of Workers in Agricultural Labor Disputes"; Statement of the California Citizens Committee For Agricultural Labor on "Legal Aspects of Legislative Discrimination Against Agricultural Labor"

Folder 1589 -- Weekly organizer's reports of H.L. Mitchell [Note: expense sheets attached to the reports were not filmed]. Folders 1590, 1590a, and 1590b -- Routine correspondence. Folders 1592a to 1592c -- Not Filmed

Mitchell became deeply involved in a civil rights crisis in Fayette and Haywood Counties, Tennessee, where black sharecroppers who had attempted to register for voting had received threats of eviction from their homes. On this subject, see Mitchell's detailed memorandum (Jan 17), the minutes of a meeting held at Le Moyne College in Memphis to deal with the problem (Jan 21), and a report by "Operation Freedom" (Feb 2). Legal papers relating to a suit filed against the White Citizens Council in Jackson, Mississippi appear in the undated section for January. On the situation in California, the papers include two letters from Gorman to Mitchell (Jan 9, 25) as well as one from Gorman to Norman Smith, protesting against excessive UPWA influence in AWOC (Jan 26). There is a long letter from Mitchell to Gorman, proposing that the AMC set up an "organized migration" program to provide southern farm workers with jobs in the North (Jan 19).

Mitchell moved from Memphis to Lake Charles, Louisiana, at the beginning of March to begin a campaign to organize rice mill workers. On the campaign, see his detailed proposal to the AMC (March 4), his letters to Leon Schachter (March 27; April 28), and the letters from leadership toward the campaign (April 13, 19). There is a letter from C.O. Cabe on his work organizing Louisiana dairy plants (April 3), and a letter and set of documents from the American Bakery and Confectionary Workers Union, Local 370, on the anti-union tactics of the Huval Baking Co. of Lafayette, Louisiana (April 10). The papers include a letter from Mitchell to NSF Chairman Frank P. Graham requesting a grant for a survey of Louisiana sugar cane workers (March 6), and two letters from Galarza on the situation in California and on his dispute with AMC (March 22, April 4)

For a running account of the progress of the organizing campaign among Louisiana rice mill workers, see Mitchell's letters to Schachter (May 22) and to AMC Secretary-Treasurer Patrick Gorman (May 29; June 9, 26; July 30). The papers also include a set of flyers handed out to the rice workers (May 22, n.d. [May]) and a letter from the NLRB Regional Office on the eligibility of seasonal rice workers in NLRB elections (June 29). Gorman and Mitchell kept up an exchange of correspondence throughout these three months on the collapse of the AWOC in California and on the attempts of the Teamsters Union to organize California agricultural workers. Finally, there is a memorandum from Mitchell to Gorman on the background of the National Farm Organization and on the difficulties of organizing small farmers (March 9)

Mitchell's letters to Patrick Gorman (Aug 16, 23; Sept 2; Oct 31) and to AMC Executive Vice-President Harry Poole (Oct 2, 17, 26) again provide a running account of the rice mill organizing campaign. The NSF Board of Directors decided to approve Mitchell's request for a survey of sugar cane workers; see the letter from NSF Executive Secretary Fay Bennett announcing the Board's action (Aug. 1), and the correspondence from Frank Lapeyrolerie, a former NAWU organizer assigned to carry out the project. There is a long memorandum by Mitchell on his meeting with Tom S. Bavin, General Secretary of the International Federation of Plantation, Agricultural and Allied Workers on a suggested dues structure and program for organizing agricultural workers (Sept 14). The papers also include a report by Mitchell to the AFL-CIO Southern Civil Rights Advisory Committee on his work in this area during the previous year (Sept 29), and a lengthy press release from the Senate Sub-Committee on Migratory Labor on its activities (Sept 26)

The campaign to organize Louisiana rice mill workers at Lake Charles and at Crowley continued through the end of the year; see Mitchell's reports to Harry F. Poole (Nov 9) and Patrick Gorman (Nov 27; Dec 11, 14), the correspondence with organizer Gene Collins at Crowley, and the returns of a survey of "seasonal" employees of the Louisiana State Rice Milling Co., filed at the end of December. Information on the survey of Louisiana sugar cane workers appears in the exchange between Mitchell and LSU economist Ray Marshall (Nov 3; Dec 5, 11) and in the reports of Frank Lapeyrolerie

Draft of an NSF "White Paper" on the "Present Situation and Suggested Program for Southern Sharecroppers"; a "short report" on job discrimination against black workers in Memphis, Tennessee; materials relating to the rice mill workers organizing campaign, including flyers, lists, etc

Folder 1621a -- Survey of Louisiana sugar cane workers -- nine completed returns and several working papers. Folder 1621b -- Organizer's reports of H.L. Mitchell. Folder 1622 -- Local 300 organizer's reports, exclusive of H.L. Mitchell. Folders 1623 to 1629 -- Not Filmed.

For a running account of Mitchell's activities during this winter, during which he lost an NLRB election at the Louisiana State Rice Milling Co. and turned to other organizing prospects, see his weekly reports from Gene V. Collins, Willie Berry, and other members of the Local 300 staff. On legal matters, see Mitchell's correspondence with Local 300 lawyer James Youngdahl. An especially interesting legal case arose with the Sweetlake Land and Oil Co., Inc., a corporation farm which claimed that its employees were all agricultural workers and thus excluded from NLRB coverage. On this dispute, see Mitchell to a lawyer Daniel H. Pollitt (March 14), the briefs filed by both the union and the corporation with the NLRB (March 23), and a detailed report on the Sweetlake Co. (n.d. [March])

Local 300 had three different cases before the NLRB during the Spring of this year. The first case involved a Borden Co. dairy plant in Lake Charles, Louisiana, where the local management began a strong counterattack against the union with the aid of the New Orleans law firm of Kullman and Lang; the papers include the transcript of the NLRB representation hearing (April 11), the brief filed by the Borden Co. with the NLRB (April 25), and a set of unfair labor practice charges filed by the union against the company (April 26 to May 3). the second case involved the union's dispute with the Sweetlake Land and Oil Co.; see the additional briefs filed by both the company and the union (April 19, 23). The third dispute was with the Louisiana Rice Growers, Inc., at Crowley; see the union's Motion to Close Record (May 2), the company's reply (May 11), and the briefs filed by both sides with the NLRB (June 15, 16). Mitchell's weekly reports to Patrick Gorman again provide a running account of the activities of Local 300

For the remainder of the year, Local 300 became mired in litigation before the NLRB. Most of the litigation concerned the unsuccessful attempt to organize the Borden Co. dairy plant in Lake Charles, Louisiana; copies of the various legal papers filed by the company, the union, and the NLRB itself appear throughout this three month period. There is also a generous sample of the anti-union flyers which the company sent its employees shortly before the election (Sept 12 to 21). On the other cases before the Board, see the NLRB decision in the Sweetlake Land and Oil Co. case, in which the Board held that employees of the firm were not agricultural workers and hence came under NLRB jurisdiction (Aug. 15), and the union's Complaint on the Conduct of An Election in the Rice By-Products Co. case (Aug. 31). For an overview of the litigation, see Mitchell's exchange of correspondence with lawyer James Youngdahl (Aug. 29; Sept 3, 6, 10). There is also a four-page report by Mitchell summarizing his first year of work in Louisiana (Aug 15).

The papers include the key legal documents in five cases placed before the NLRB by Local 300. In the Borden Co. case, see the Complaint on the Conduct of An Election filed by the union (Oct. 1), the Brief of the NLRB General Counsel on the union's charge of unfair labor practices against the company (Nov 23), and the NLRB Intermediate Report on the case (Dec 6). There is a copy of the NLRB decision to hold an election in the Louisiana Rice Growers, Inc. case (Oct 5), as well as the union's challenge of the election (Oct 26). In the Sweetlake Land and Oil Co. case, see the complaints of unfair labor practices filed by the union (Nov 1, 26; Dec 18). Local 300 attempted to organize a Lake Charles plant of the Stedman Co., a wholesale fruit and vegetable firm; the papers include the briefs filed by both union and company (Oct 26, 30) and the NLRB Decision and Direction of Election in the case (Nov 19). Perhaps most interesting of all was Mitchell's effort to obtain NLRB action against the New Orleans law firm of Kullman and Lang, which had represented the Borden Co. in its fight with Local 300. See the Motion to Disqualify Attorney for the Employer which Mitchell filed against Kullman and Lang in the Stedman Co. case (Oct 27), as well as his formal charge in an unfair labor practice against the law firm in the Borden case, enclosing a seven-page affidavit on Kullman and Lang's participation in the dispute (Nov 13)

Organizer's report (no name or date); "Report on the Sugar Cane Plantation Worker Survey in Louisiana"; survey of unorganized workers in the food, agricultural, and allied industries in Lake Charles, Louisiana; file of correspondence between the Louisiana Rice Growers, Inc. and the NLRB, 1954-1956; survey of regular and seasonal employees of the Louisiana State Rice Milling Co. at Lake Charles, Louisiana

Folder 1567 -- not filmed

Local 300 attempted to organize a group of egghouse workers at the corporation farm of the Sweetlake Land and Oil Co. near Lake Charles, but the union drive stalled when the employer insisted that his employees were agricultural workers and did not come under the NLRB jurisdiction. On the Sweetlake case, see Mitchell's memorandum on the NLRB hearings (Jan 22), the various briefs filed in the case (Feb 4), the NLRB decision (Feb 11), and the tally of ballots in the NLRB election (March 4). Mitchell began a project to convince the government and the NSF to set up a program for training unskilled sugar cane workers in the operation of modern farm equipment; information on this subject appears in Mitchell's correspondence with NSF Executive Secretary Fay Bennet, and in Mitchell's exchange with Seymour L. Wolfbein, Director of the Office of Manpower, Automation and Training of the US Department of Labor (Jan 16; Feb 11). The campaign of Local 300 to organize the menhaden fishing industry might best be followed in Mitchell's weekly reports to Patrick Gorman

Legal papers relating to the unfair labor practice charge with Local 300 filed against the Sweetlake Land and Oil Co. appear on April 4 and 5 and on May 7 and 28. Mitchell's correspondence with the NSF on a proposed training program for sugar cane workers continues through June; see also his letter to NSF Executive Secretary Fay Bennett on the completion of a survey of sugar workers which the NSF financed (May 8). The main activity of Local 300 this Spring was the organizing drive among menhaden fisherman. Mitchell detailed the progress of the campaign in his letters to Patrick Gorman; see also the exchange between lawyer James Youngdahl and Mitchell on strategy before the NLRB in a dispute with the Louisiana Menhaden Co. (May 27, 28).

Nearly all of the activity of Local 300 was devoted to the organizing drive in the menhaden fishing industry during this summer. There are legal papers relating to disputes between the union and the Louisiana Menhaden Co. (July 29; Sept 23) and the Fish Meal and Oil Co. and Quinn Menhaden Fisheries, Inc. (Sept. 11, 27). See also the tally of ballots in the various NLRB elections held on the fishing boats (Aug 20; Sept 21). The union filed an unfair labor practice charges against the Louisiana State Rice Milling Co. (Sept 17); in addition , see Mitchell's memorandum on the dispute (n.d. [Sept]). There is an exchange between Mitchell and the Department of Agriculture on setting a minimum wage for sugar cane workers (Aug 20, Sept 5)

The organizing drive in the menhaden fishing industry continued with a series of NLRB elections and legal wrangles. Ballot tallies appear on October 18, 22 and 23. There are memoranda by Mitchell on the Louisiana Menhaden Co. case (Oct 10) and on "NLRB Elections on Menhaden Fishing Botes in Louisiana" (Oct 25) . The union filed unfair labor charges against several fishing companies; see the affidavits collected from fishermen to document the charges (Nov 14, 21) and Mitchell's letters to lawyer Spiro T. Agnew on settling the cases (Dec. 13, 18, 27). The papers include a number of legal papers relating to the Louisiana State Rice Milling Co. case (Oct 17, 19, 24; Nov 6); see also Mitchell's letters to the NLRB General Counsel on his complaints against the company (Nov 15; Dec 12, 31). Finally, there is a report by Mitchell on the farm machine training project for Louisiana sugar cane workers which Local 300 was closely involved in (n.d. [Oct.])

Office Diary of H.L. Mitchell; letters from Eugene Cox; Report by Mitchell on "Carrier Boats of the Menhaden Fishing Industry"; two proposals for an on-the-job training program in farm machinery for Louisiana sugar workers; proposed contracts with menhaden fishing companies; Xerox copies of documents relating to the unionization of the menhaden fishing industry in 1963 [Note: several of these items are dated and may be duplicated in the regular chronological series]; lists of employees of the Louisiana State Rice Milling Co.; flyers sent to rice workers

Folder 1704e -- Not filmed.

For information on the organizing drive among menhaden fishermen and the resulting battles before the NLRB, see Mitchell's weekly letters to AMC Secretary-Treasurer Patrick Gorman. There are a number of affidavits of fishermen (Jan 15, 30), as well as an illustrated pamphlet by Mitchell entitled "Pogy Boat Men" (March 1). The fishermen campaign began to take on an increasingly strong civil rights dimension, which appears explicitly in Mitchell's exchange of correspondence with the Congress of Racial Equality (March 1, 11, 13, 27). There is also a bulletin from NSF on its new contract with the Department of Labor to set up a demonstration manpower training program among southern agricultural workers (Jan 16)

Local 300 continued to win a sizable number of NLRB elections on menhaden fishing boats; the official tallies of ballots appear in the papers (May 15; June 12, 20, 27). However, the problem soon became one of signing contracts with owners once the union acquired the status of certified bargaining agent; see Mitchell's memorandum, giving a chronological account of his negotiations to sign contracts (May 27), as well as several contracts which were finally signed (May 29). There is an interesting exchange between lawyer James Youngdahl and Mitchell on the cases currently before the NLRB (April 10, 12) and a letter from Mitchell to various menhaden companies protesting the deductions from workers' pay made to cover the cost of extra crew members (June 10). The papers include Mitchell's statement to the public hearings held in Washington by the National Advisory Committee on Farm Labor and a lengthy report on the hearings published by the Committee (May 18). Information on the sugar worker training program sponsored by Local 300 appears in Mitchell's letter to NSF Executive Secretary Fay Bennett (April 17) and in a report to Mitchell from Frank Lapeyrolerie (June 3)

Mitchell concentrated his efforts during this summer on obtaining contracts for the boats on which NLRB elections had already been won; see his exchange of correspondence with AMC President T.J. Lloyd on his use of threats of job action to force the companies to sign (Aug. 7, 11; Sept 19) and the contracts themselves (July 18; Aug 4, 14, 18; Sept 23). For further information on the menhaden organizing drive, see especially the reports of organizers Howard Harrity and Willie Berry, Mitchell's report to the Local 300 Executive Board (Sept 13), and his exchanges with James Youngdahl on NLRB cases (July 22, 24; Aug 4, 14, 15). There is a letter from Fay Bennett describing an attack on the NSF by the Mississippi Farm Bureau (Sept 23) and a long letter from Mitchell to Henry Anderson on the accomplishments of the TFU (July 6).

The main topic in the papers for these months is Mitchell's attempt to obtain better contracts for menhaden fishermen which would be in compliance with the safety standards set under the Jones Act; see especially his letters to AMC Maryland organizer Melvin H. Tyler (Oct. 10) and to lawyer James Youngdahl (Nov 19) and a draft copy of the proposed contract (Nov 23). There is also a memorandum by Mitchell on the status of the contract negotiations (Dec 13). Another important issue was the demand of the fishermen for a separate AMC charter, which Mitchell opposed on the grounds that the resulting local would be all black; see his exchange with organizer Willie Berry (Nov 18, 21) and his letter to Patrick Gorman on this subject (Nov 19). The papers include an interesting letter from Mitchell to Eugene Cox on the problems of the Southern Rural Training Project (Oct 14) and one to Fay Bennett on the future role of NSF in the South (Dec. 21)

Payroll ledger of Local 300 , January, 1964 to April, 1965; Constitution and By-Laws of Local 300; proposals by Mitchell for on-the-job training programs for farm machine operators and menhaden fishermen in Louisiana; report by Frank Lapeyrolerie on the training project for sugar cane workers in Reserve, Louisiana (11-pages plus attachments); contracts with various menhaden fishing companies

Folders 1743 and 1744 -- Not Filmed

A dispute arose when the menhaden fisherman organized by Local 300 demanded their own charter from the AMC. The dispute might best be followed through the correspondence between Mitchell and organizer Howard Harrity, in Mitchell's reports to Patrick Gorman (Jan 6, 22, Feb 4), and in his memoranda to the AMC on this subject (Feb 16, 24). There is an exchange of correspondence between Mitchell and historian Jerold S. Auerbach concerning Auerbach's interpretation of the early days of the STFU (Jan. 30; Feb. 2, 12, 116), as well as a letter from former STFU President J.R. Butler on Auerbach's account (Feb 14). The papers include a detailed letter from NSF Executive Secretary Fay Bennett on her organization's activities in the South (Jan 4) and a letter from Mitchell to Frank P. Graham complaining about the NSF program (Jan 20). Finally, there is a handwritten report by Mitchell on a Regional Foreign Policy Conference held at Dallas, Texas by the U.S. Department of State

The charter dispute concerning the menhaden fishermen was resolved at a meeting at AMC Headquarters in Chicago on March 4, during which it was decided to reorganize Local 300 to meet the fishermen's objections; see the memorandum on the meeting (March 4) and Mitchell's report to Patrick Gorman on the progress of the reorganization (April 20). There is also a copy of a letter from organizer Willie Berry to Howard Harrity protesting the decision (March 18). The union was steeped in contract negotiations with various menhaden fishing companies during this Spring. See especially the correspondence between Mitchell and James Youngdahl on the progress of the negotiations (March 16, 19, 22) and the drafts of proposed contracts (March 11, 19; April 5, 29, n.d.). The papers include copies of a triangular correspondence between the AWOC, California Governor Edmund Brown, and Secretary of Labor W. Willard Wirtz on the bracero problem in California (March 5, 7, 24); see also Mitchell to AMC Vice-President Harry R. Poole on the current status of the AWOC organizing drive (March 9).

On May 29, Local 300 signed contracts with a number of menhaden fishing companies. Beginning June 13, the union struck the remaining companies which refused to sign contracts. The most detailed information on the strike appears in the almost daily exchange of correspondence between Mitchell and AMC Secretary-Treasurer Patrick Gorman during July, and in Mitchell's letters to AMC Vice-President Sam Twedell at the beginning and end of the strike (June 19 to 29; Aug 15, 21). Following the strike, there is an exchange between Mitchell and the New Orleans law firm of Kullman and Lang on whether the fishing companies had agreed to sign contracts in return for an end to the strike (Aug 18, 20). Mitchell's letters to lawyer James Youngdahl provide a good summary of cases currently before the NLRB (Aug. 4, 14, 25)

The most interesting items in the papers for these months are the detailed affidavits on the strike and the stalled negotiations which Local 300 submitted to the NLRB in an attempt to force the hold-out menhaden companies to sign union contracts. These include several affidavits by Mitchell (Sept 4, 11, 24; Oct 12; Nov 3), one by organizer Lionel Sanders (Sept 27), and several by the fishermen themselves (Nov 29, 30). Mitchell's letters to James Youngdahl contain a good deal of information on these and other NLRB cases (Sept 3, Oct 5 to 18, Nov 5, Dec 23).

Letters from organizers Howard Harrity and Paul Bridget; revised Constitution of Local 300; newsletters, flyers, etc. sent out by Local 300; working papers relating to collective bargaining sessions with menhaden fishing companies

Folder 1774e -- Not Filmed. Folders 1775a and 1775b -- Not Filmed. Folder 1775c -- Lists of dues collected from menhaden fishermen. Folders 1775d and 1775e -- Not Filmed

At the invitation of SNCC, Mitchell went to California in February to visit the Delano grape-pickers strike; the papers include his handwritten notes on meetings with strike leader Cesar Chavez (Feb 18) and AWOC Director C. Al Green (Feb 23), as well as his report on the trip to AMC California Director Max J. Osslo (Feb 25). There is also an exchange between Mitchell and SNCC worker Laura Foner in Arkansas (Feb. 6, 13, 16). Following a suggestion by Leon Schachter Mitchell formulated a proposal for organizing the working poor in the rural South by building them low-cost housing; see his memorandum on the subject (Jan. 17), his exchange with NSF Executive Secretary Fay Benett (Jan 26, 31; Feb 9), and his letter to A. Philip Randolph (Feb. 9). Mitchell also drew up a proposal for a training project for menhaden fishermen (Jan 19). Local 300 continued to experience difficulty in signing contracts with certain menhaden fishing companies; the papers include several affidavits by Mitchell (Jan 17, 22, 25, 31) and a series of letters from Mitchell to the NLRB General Counsel appealing the Regional Director's refusal to issue unfair labor practice charges against the companies (Feb 25)

The papers for these months contain a great deal of correspondence with both the NLRB and the New Orleans law firm of Kullman and Lang on the failure of the menhaden companies to sign contracts; see especially Mitchell's detailed letter to an NLRB Field Examiner on the problem (March 8), a memorandum on a meeting between the union and the firm (March 7), and two long letters from Kullman and Lang charging the union with the stalled negotiations (May 17, 31). There are three letters from California lawyer Alexander H. Schullman on setting up a test case on the constitutionality of excluding agricultural workers from NLRB protection (March 4, 7, 24). April marked the victory of Cesar Chavez in his campaign against the Schenley Co. in Delano, California; on this subject, see the exchange between Mitchell and Patrick Gorman (April 8, 15), the exchange between Samuel Pollock, President of the AMC in Cleveland, Ohio, and Gorman (April 20, 28), and Mitchell to Galarza (May 5)

Mitchell's attention began to turn during this summer from the menhaden fishermen to the organization of Louisiana sugar cane workers. Information on the planning of this new campaign appears in Mitchell's correspondence with Patrick Gorman (June 6, 24; July 5, 8, 18; Aug 26), with AMC Executive Vice-President Harry R. Poole (Aug. 1, 23), with N.A. Zonarich, Organizational Director of the AFL-CIO Industrial Union Department (June 24), and with Charles H. Logan (Aug. 9, 31). There is also a copy of Mitchell's statement to the USDA hearings on sugar cane wages held at Houma, Louisiana (June 22). Finally, there is a letter from Mitchell to Donald Slaiman, Director of the AFL-CIO Civil Rights Department, giving an account of his battle with the New Orleans law firm of Kullman and Lang (Aug. 24).

The refusal of several menhaden fishing companies to sign contracts with Local 300 again becomes the most important topic in the papers for these months. Items relating to the dispute include: Mitchell's frequent exchange of correspondence with the law firm representing the companies, Kullman and Lang; several affidavits filed by Mitchell with the NLRB on the refusal to bargain; Mitchell's notes on a bargaining session held with Kullman and Lang (Oct 8), and his reports to AMC officials Gorman and Poole (Nov 16, Dec 26, 28). There is an interesting exchange between Galarza and Mitchell on the topic of Cesar Chavez (Oct 21; Dec 9). Finally, Mitchell attempted to generate some enthusiasm for convening a southern conference on rural problems; see his letter to Jac Wasserman of the NSF staff in Atlanta (Dec 7)

Report by Mitchell on the 1966 Farm Worker Organizing Drive in California; memorandum on "A Project to Train Leaders For the Rural South"; flyers and bulletins issued by Local 300; memorandum by Mitchell on "A Project to Train Leaders for the Rural South"; flyers and bulletins issued by Local 300; memorandum by Mitchell on "A Low Cost Housing Project for Rural Families in Louisiana"; prospectus on a training program for seasonal farm workers in Reserve, Louisiana; proposed contracts for the menhaden fishing industry, along with working papers used in bargaining sessions

Folders 1803 to 1809 -- Not Filmed

Mitchell and his associates in the AMC devised a new strategy to put pressure on the menhaden fishing companies to sign union contracts; for details see Mitchell's report on the industry, which includes a breakdown of union organization boat by boat (Jan 19), the notes on a meeting of AMC officials in Washington to devise the new strategy (Jan 26), the proposed contracts sent to the companies (Feb. 8; March 14), and Mitchell to Harry R. Poole on the current status of the negotiations (March 8). There is a memorandum by Local 300 lawyer John T. Lavey on the status of all menhaden fishing cases before the NLRB (Feb 25). Mitchell attended a special conference on organizing in the white community sponsored by the Institute for Policy Studies; the papers include the materials sent him by the Institute (Jan 26; Feb 5,23) and his letter to Sidney Hertzberg describing the conference (Feb 28). Finally, there is a report by Mitchell on the plight of migrant workers in Florida (Jan 14)

Local 300 staged a one month strike against the hold-out menhaden companies beginning on April 24. The papers include a large number of items on the strike and the resulting bargaining sessions; see especially Mitchell's reports to Patrick Gorman (May 17, 24). Information on Mitchell's developing plans for a southwide conference on rural problems appears in his letters to Eugene Cox (April 4), to NSF staff member Jac Wasserman (May 18; June 28), and in his two memoranda on the subject (May 4, 23). On the self-help housing project which Mitchell initiated at Edgard, Louisiana, see his exchange with Assistant Secretary of Agriculture John D. Baker (April 4, 18) and his magazine article prepared for the Butcher Workman (May 18).

The progress of the campaign to organize Louisiana sugar workers may be followed in Mitchell's letters to Patrick Gorman (June 12, 29; July 10; Aug 1, 18; Sept. 12, 30). On the self-help housing program for sugar workers, see Mitchell's report to the Norman Fund on the progress made (June 29) and his exchange with Jac Wasserman (Sept 16, 19). Several menhaden companies continued to refuse to sign contracts with Local 300; see the unfair labor practice charges filed against them (July 31) and the affidavits of Mitchell and his staff (July 12; Aug 28; Sept 1). There is also an interesting exchange between Mitchell and both Gorman and Galarza on the activities of Cesar Chavez (July 3, 6, 12)

The papers include two letters from Mitchell to New Orleans industrial relations specialist Charles Logan on the sugar worker campaign (Oct. 17, 27); see also Mitchell to Patrick Gorman on the same subject (Nov. 15). Mitchell began an effort to raise a sizable sum of money to set up a national committee to help revitalize rural life in the South; see his memorandum (Nov 15), and his letter to Eugene Cox (Nov 9) and to fund-raiser Henry H. Urrows (Dec. 15). There is a memorandum by Mitchell on labor standards in the US fishing industry (Oct 21), as well as two letters from Mitchell to Prof. F. Ray Marshall of the University of Kentucky on the Southern Co-operative Development Program (Nov 16, 21). Lastly, there is an interesting exchange between organizer Howard Harrity and Mitchell on the growing dissatisfaction amount the menhaden fisherman with Local 300 (Nov 28; Dec 4)

Memoranda by Mitchell on "A Project to Train Organizers to Work in the Rural South" and on "Organizing Sugar Plantation Workers"; materials relating to the organization of the menhaden fishing industry, including a set of questions prepared by Mitchell for a contract negotiation session with the law firm of Kullman and Lang and a memorandum on work rules for fishermen.

Folder 1852 -- Weekly reports of H.L. Mitchell. Folder 1853 -- Not Filmed

Mitchell attempted to interest the Ford Foundation in his "Program to Build and Renew the Rural Community in South Louisiana"; see his proposal (n.d. [Jan]), a memorandum on the meeting held with Ford officials (Jan 16), and Mitchell's letters to Henry H. Urrows (Jan 18, 25, March 11) on the progress of the fund-raising effort. On the current status of the negotiations with the menhaden fishing companies, see Mitchell to AMC Executive Vice-President Harry R. Poole (Feb 7, 8). During March, Mitchell revived his plan for testing the constitutionality of the exclusion of agricultural workers under the National Labor Relations Act. On this subject, the papers include a lengthy memorandum by Mitchell (March 28), letters from Mitchell to lawyers Richard B. Sobol and James Youngdahl (Feb. 26; March 15), and letters from lawyers Daniel H. Pollitt and Alexander Schullman expressing their opinions on the case (March 19, 25).

The test case on NLRA exclusion of agricultural workers, designated Local 300 v. McCulloch, went through its preliminary phases during this Spring. Information on the progress of the lawsuit appears in correspondence from the union's lawyers, James Youngdahl, Richard Sobol, and Alexander Schullman, as well as in Mitchell's two memoranda on the case (April 15; June 5) and in his letters to Ernesto Galarza (May 6) and Leon Schachter (May 20). See also the draft of the Complaint to be filed in Federal District Court (June 21), a paper prepared by the Senate Sub-Committee on Migratory Labor staff on the legislative history of the exclusion of agricultural workers from NLRA coverage (May 10), and Mitchell's statement to a USDA hearing on sugar cane wages (June 24). There is a letter from Mitchell to AMC Executive Vice-President Harry R. Poole on the progress of the sugar workers organizing campaign (April 1), and two letters from Mitchell to NSF Executive Secretary Fay Bennett on starting a new self-help housing project for sugar workers in Assumption Parish, Louisiana (June 4, 7)

The papers include a copy of the Complaint filed by the union in Local 300 v. McCulloch (July 22) and further legal papers filed at a later date (Aug. 28). See also Mitchell to Galarza on the case (July 28), and Mitchell to Harry R. Poole on new developments in the organization of sugar workers (July 18). The union formulated a new strategy in its attempt to organize the menhaden fishing industry; information on this subject appears in Mitchell's letters to Leon Schachter (Aug 2) and to Harry R. Poole (Sept 2, 18), and in an exchange between company lawyer Thomas M. Kerrigan and Mitchell (Aug 5, 8). Finally, there is a letter from Jerry Brown of the United Farm Workers Organizing Committee on initiating a Grape Boycott in New Orleans (Aug. 31)

There are additional legal papers filed in the case of Local 300 v. McCulloch (Oct. 17; Nov. 2); see also Mitchell's memorandum to lawyer Richard Sobol on his recent conversation with three South Coast Corporation sugar workers (n.d. [Nov]) and a letter from lawyer Alexander H. Schullman on the case (Dec. 13). On the current status of the negotiations between Local 300 and various menhaden fishing companies, see Mitchell to Harry R. Poole (Oct 18). There is also an interesting letter from Mitchell to Poole on future strategy in organizing sugar cane workers (Dec 27). There are two letters from Mitchell to Jerry Brown on the progress of the Grape Boycott in New Orleans (Oct 17, 28), and a number of letters from Ann Johnson of the Southern Student Organizing Committee to Mitchell (Oct. 1, 10, 29)

Draft of a speech by Mitchell to the Mississippi AFL-CIO on the anti-union practices of the New Orleans law firm of Kullman and Lang; magazine article by Mitchell on the STFU; Constitution and By-Laws of Local 300; Summary of survey of Louisiana sugar cane workers

Folder 1897 -- Multi-dated file of USDA regulations concerning sugar workers' wages. Folder 1898 -- Multi-dated file of contracts between the United Farm Workers Organizing Committee and various California growers. Folder 1899 --Weekly reports of H.L. Mitchell. Folders 1900 and 1901 -- Not Filmed.

Following a meeting in Chicago, the leadership of the AMC decided to forego the organization of Louisiana sugar field workers in favor of sugar mill workers, since the latter were covered under the NLRA while the former were not. See especially Frank Lapeyrolerie's letters of protest to Patrick Gorman over this decision (Feb 17, 28), as well as Mitchell's letters to Harry R. Poole (Feb 18; March 4), and NSF Executive Secretary Fay Bennett (March 27). There is a letter from James Youngdahl to Mitchell on the current status of Local 300 v. McCulloch (Feb 4); see also the Motion For Summary Reversal filed with the US Court of Appeals in the case (March 4). The papers include a good deal of correspondence between Mitchell and Ann Johnson of the Southern Students Organizing Committee on a plan for students to conduct a survey of sugar workers during the coming summer (Jan 28; Feb 3; March 5, 17). Also on the subject of sugar workers, see the report of an organizational meeting held at Houma, Louisiana (Feb 5, n.d.) and a magazine article on the self-help housing program at Edgard, Louisiana (n.d. [March])

The most interesting topic for these months is the "Louisiana Summer Project", a group of six students and six local residents who made a thorough canvass of the living conditions of sugar plantation field workers in southern Louisiana during June. The papers include a proposal and a brief report on the project (n.d. [June]), and several letters from Mitchell to Fay Bennett on the students' progress (June 18, 24, 27), but there is no detailed report. The best summary of the students' findings appears in the testimony of Alex Hurder before the USDA sugar wage hearings at Houma, Louisiana; an apparently complete record of the hearings can be found on the microfilm (June 26). There is a copy of the union brief filed in the case of Local 300 v. McCulloch (April 21). On the controversy with the AMC over the decision not to organize sugar field workers, see Lapeyrolerie to Gorman, summarizing the campaign to date (April 8) and the exchange between Mitchell and Gorman (April 30; May 8). There is a letter from Mitchell to Harry R. Poole which reviews recent developments in the attempt to organize menhaden fishermen (May 20). Finally, there is a great deal of Xeroxed material throughout the Spring, especially heavy during May, relating to the firing of Sister Anne Catherine Bizalion as Director of the Headstart Program in Vermillion Parish, Louisiana; see also Mitchell's memorandum on the subject (May 16)

During this period, Local 300 made an unsuccessful attempt to organize a rice mill at Abbeville, Louisiana, owned by Riviana Foods, Inc. In addition to numerous flyers and letters to the workers issued by both sides, the papers include three speeches by the Riviana management to the employees (July 11; Aug 13; Sept 23), the brief filed by the company with the NLRB (Aug 22), the NLRB decision in the case (Aug 28), a letter from Mitchell to the NLRB charging Riviana with unfair labor practices (Sept 9), the tally of ballots in the election (Sept 24), and a union press release charging that the company initiated a "reign of terror" to win the election (Sept 26). Three of the young civil rights workers attempting to survey the living conditions of sugar workers were arrested for "criminal trespass" at Houma, Louisiana; see Mitchell's press release (July 22) and his letter to Oberlin student Gordon Johnson (Sept 16). On the plans for continuing the summer project, see Mitchell to Fay Bennett (Aug 19) and the fund-raising letters sent out by the newly created Southern Mutual Help Association (Sept 15, n.d.)

For information on the fund-raising efforts of the Southern Mutual Help Association, see Mitchell to Mrs. George Biderman (Oct. 4, 8), as well as a set of materials sent out by the Association to prospective donors (Dec 7, 30). There is a memorandum by Mitchell on the proposed winter survey of sugar workers (n.d. [Nov]) and a copy of a New York Times article on the campaign (Oct. 22). Mitchell went on a speaking tour of various colleges during the Fall; the papers include his speech at the University of Indiana at Fort Wayne entitled "Protest As a Means of Social Change" (Dec 10). There is also a copy of a letter from attorney James Youngdahl to the NLRB concerning the case of Lynn Franklin, a New Orleans Times-Picayune reporter allegedly fired for his pro-union activities on behalf of the sugar workers (Dec. 30).

Detailed letter from Rev. Claude C. Williams on his activities during the 1930s; "Resume of Work for the Union, 1960-1969" by Mitchell; Statement of the Parent Advisory Committee to the Tri-Parish Board on the firing of Sister Anne Catherine Bizalion as Director of the Vermillion Parish Headstart Program; speech by Sister Anne Catherine entitled "Experiments in By-Passing the Establishment"; NSF Draft Statement of Programs, Goals, and Structural Changes; materials relating to the formation of the Southern Mutual Help Association; 36-page handbook for plant managers outlining anti-union tactics; handwritten notes by Mitchell pertaining to the NLRB investigation of an election at Riviana Foods, Inc.; contract between Local 300 and various menhaden fishing companies at Moss Point, Mississippi; minutes of a meeting of the Local 300 Executive Board

Folder 1943 -- Weekly organizer's reports by H.L. Mitchell. Folder 1944 -- Not Filmed

The NLRB ordered a hearing into the union's charges of unfair labor practices during the September election at the Riviana Foods plant in Abbeville, Louisiana; see the various papers issued by the Board (Jan. 16, 21, 29; Feb 6), Mitchell's press release on the hearing (March 5), and the copies of affidavits taken in the case, including one by Sister Anne Catherine Bizalion (Jan 30; Feb 17). There is a great deal of correspondence from Roy M. Raffield on his attempt to organize fishermen's co- operatives in Florida; see also Mitchell to NSF Southern Director Leonard E. Smith on the same subject (Jan 6). A group of students from Oberlin College undertook a winter survey of sugar cane workers during January; however, the only item in the papers for these months related to their project is a sample survey form (n.d. [Jan])

There is a computer print-out of the survey of sugar workers conducted by a contingent of Oberlin students during January which provides a detailed statistical analysis of the workers' living conditions (April 28). A summary of the survey results appears in the testimony of Amy Gladstein and Bruce Griffiths before the USDA sugar cane wage hearings at Houma, Louisiana (June 5). The papers also include copies of the testimony by Mitchell, Sister Anne Catherine Bizalion, and Louisiana labor official Henry Pelet at the same hearings. Further information on the survey appears in the copies of letters from Amy Gladstein to Sister Anne Catherine (June 10). There is a Decision by the US Court of Appeals in the case of Local 300 v. McCulloch (June 19). The papers also include a copy of the Brief of the NLRB General Counsel in the Riviana Foods, Inc. case (April 3), a letter from Mitchell to NSF Executive Secretary Fay Bennett on racial conflict within the Southern Mutual Help Association (April 20), and a letter from Mitchell to Frank McCallister on re-organizing NSF (May 22)

There is a frequent exchange of correspondence during these three months between Mitchell and AMC Secretary-Treasurer Patrick Gorman on the International's participation in a campaign to unionize Louisiana sugar cane workers; see also Gorman's memorandum on his conversation with Father Vincent J. O'Connell of Lafayette, Louisiana on the same subject (July 30). The papers include a copy of the Decision of the NLRB Trial Examiner in the Riviana Foods, Inc. case (Aug. 5), as well as the Exceptions to the Decision filed by the NLRB General Counsel (Sept 4) and a letter from a Riviana plant employee (n.d. [Aug]). On the Southern Mutual Help Association, see the Outline of Objectives (July 8) and the minutes of the Committee on Farm Labor Organization (July 20)

On the continuing debate over the AMC role in organizing sugar cane workers, see Mitchell's exchanges with Gorman (Oct 2, 23; Nov 2, 10), an important exchange between AMC Vice-President Richard A. Twedell and Gorman (Oct 8, 15), and Mitchell's proposal for an organizing strategy (n.d. [Nov]). Several letters from lawyer James Youngdahl provide a running account of the progress of Local 300 v. McCulloch, the suit filed to test the constitutionality of excluding farm workers from the National Labor Relations Act (Oct 23, 28; Nov 9; Dec 29). There is a copy of the brief filed on behalf of three civil rights workers arrested during July, 1969 for "criminal trespass" during a meeting with sugar workers (Nov 25). Finally, there is a memorandum from Mitchell to Sister Anne Catherine Bizalion on future plans for the Southern Mutual Help Association (Nov 5).

Draft of article by H.L. Mitchell, "America's Disinherited: A Brief History of the Nation's Farm Workers' Efforts to Form Organizations"; set of materials relating to the Southern Mutual Help Association; report on the summer student program of 1970; letter from Oberlin student Gordon Johnson to Mitchell on the survey of Louisiana sugar workers

Folder 1982 -- Not Filmed. Folder 1983 -- Weekly organizer's reports of H.L. Mitchell

Deposition of Harry L. Mitchell in the case of Local Union No. 300 vs. Edward B. Miller, et al and South Coast Corporation, et al. -- 69 pages -- March 10, 1971.

Two STFU Sign Manuals -- no date.

Biographical sketches of STFU leaders H.L. Mitchell, J.E. Clayton, and Arthur Churchill. Includes a 22-page autobiographical account by Mitchell and a 13-page draft of an article entitled "Early Days of the STFU", also by Mitchell.

STFU Ledger Book, listing local unions and officers, 1939 and 1940.

STFU Ledger Book, recording meetings held by Rev. Arthur C. Churchill in the area of Memphis, Tennessee, 1947 to 1951.

Four miscellaneous undated items, including a handwritten essay by Rev. J.E. Clayton entitled, "Liberty, Justice and Freedom"

The Sharecroppers Voice (Memphis, Tenn.), April, 1935 to September, 1937.

The STFU News (Memphis, Tenn.), April, 1938 to October-November, 1940.

The Tenant Farmer (Memphis, Tenn.), May 5, 1941 to May 14, 1942.

The Farm Worker (Memphis, Tenn.), September and November 1943; February and July, 1944.

Farm Labor News (Memphis, Tenn. and Washington, DC), March, 1946 to June, 1952.

The Union Farmer (Hammond, La.), October, 1952 to March, 1953.

The Agricultural Unionist (Washington, DC), August, 1952 to February, 1954.

The Llano Colonist (New Llano, La.), April 16, 1932 to October 14, 1933.

Southern Farm Leader (New Orleans, La.), May to November, 1936.

Louisiana Farmers Union News (New Orleans, La.), January 15, 1938 to March 15, 1938.

Workers Defense League News Bulletin (NYC), February to April, 1938

Approximately 150 photographs relating to the history of the union, 1934 to 1970, selected, arranged, and with captions by H.L. Mitchell.

Xerox copies of 44 items from the Socialist Party Archives, selected by H.L. Mitchell. These include primarily letters from Mitchell to Clarence Senior and other Socialist Party officials from November, 1934 to May, 1936, but there is also a copy of an undated STFU questionnaire and a synopsis of the March of Time newsreel on the union, dated August, 1936.

Approximately 2,000 items from the Howard A. Kester Papers relating to Kester's work with the STFU, selected and arranged by H.L. Mitchell. Major topics include the Ward H. Rodgers case, the trail of H.L. Mitchell by an STFU investigating committee in early 1935, the union's relations with the Socialist and Communist Parties, the writing of Revolt of the Sharecroppers, the beating of Howard Kester at Earle, Arkansas in January, 1936, National Sharecroppers Week, the union's relationship with Commonwealth College, and the trial of Rev. Claude Williams. Notable correspondents include William R. Amberson, Roger Baldwin, J.R. Butler, Francis A. Henson, Gardner Jackson, H.L. Mitchell, Ward H. Rodgers, Julian D. Steele, and Norman Thomas.

There is a good deal of material on an investigation of the Delta and Providence Cooperative Farms undertaken in 1940. A fragment of an autobiographical sketch by Kester appears at the end of the papers.