Top of page

Manuscript/Mixed Material Letter, Eleanor Roosevelt to Walter White detailing the First Lady's lobbying efforts for federal action against lynchings, 19 March 1936.

View Enlarged Image

About this Item

Title

  • Letter, Eleanor Roosevelt to Walter White detailing the First Lady's lobbying efforts for federal action against lynchings, 19 March 1936.

Created / Published

  • 19 March 1936

Headings

  • -  African Americans
  • -  Lobbying
  • -  Presidents
  • -  Congress
  • -  Roosevelt, Franklin D. (Franklin Delano) (1882-1945)
  • -  Civil rights movement
  • -  First ladies
  • -  Ickes, Harold L. (Harold LeClaire) (1874-1952)
  • -  Legislation
  • -  Lynching
  • -  NAACP
  • -  National Association for the Advancement of Colored People
  • -  Roosevelt, Eleanor (1884-1962)
  • -  White, Walter Francis (1893-1955)
  • -  Manuscripts

Genre

  • Manuscripts

Notes

  • -  Reproduction number: A69 (color slide); LC-MSS-34140-41 (B&W negative)
  • -  Lynching was undoubtedly the most terrible crime perpetrated by white supremacists against African Americans. From the late nineteenth century through the World War I years, hundreds of blacks were lynched in the South for a variety of alleged crimes, the most heinous of which was the rape of white women. The National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) and other civil rights organizations tried unsuccessfully for many years to get a federal antilynching law passed. First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt (1884-1962) and Secretary of the Interior Harold L. Ickes (1874-1952), a one-time president of the NAACP's Chicago chapter, were supportive of the organization's efforts, but President Franklin D. Roosevelt (1882-1945) did not share their enthusiasm and believed that pressing for the NAACP's demands would endanger congressional support for his New Deal programs. In her March 1936 letter to Walter Francis White (1893-1955), who served as NAACP executive secretary (later director) from 1931 to 1955, Mrs. Roosevelt stated some of the arguments that were used by the president and others against passage of an antilynching bill. It is clear from this "personal and confidential" letter that Mrs. Roosevelt was searching for a tactful means for aiding the anti-lynching cause herself, and she suggested to White various methods for winning the goodwill of members of Congress.

Source Collection

  • National Association for the Advancement of Colored People Records

Repository

  • Manuscript Division

Online Format

  • pdf
  • image

IIIF Presentation Manifest

Rights & Access

More about Copyright and other Restrictions

For guidance about compiling full citations consult Citing Primary Sources.

Cite This Item

Citations are generated automatically from bibliographic data as a convenience, and may not be complete or accurate.

Chicago citation style:

Letter, Eleanor Roosevelt to Walter White detailing the First Lady's lobbying efforts for federal action against lynchings, 19 March. 19 March, 1936. Manuscript/Mixed Material. https://www.loc.gov/item/mcc.015/.

APA citation style:

(1936) Letter, Eleanor Roosevelt to Walter White detailing the First Lady's lobbying efforts for federal action against lynchings, 19 March. 19 March. [Manuscript/Mixed Material] Retrieved from the Library of Congress, https://www.loc.gov/item/mcc.015/.

MLA citation style:

Letter, Eleanor Roosevelt to Walter White detailing the First Lady's lobbying efforts for federal action against lynchings, 19 March. 19 March, 1936. Manuscript/Mixed Material. Retrieved from the Library of Congress, <www.loc.gov/item/mcc.015/>.