Information: The first column shows data points from Pittman, John H. in red. The third column shows data points from Pittman, John, 1906-1993 in blue. Any data they share in common is displayed as purple boxes in the middle "Shared" column.
John Pittman (1906-1993), an African-American communist journalist, was born in Atlanta, graduated from Morehouse College, and received an M.A. in Economics (1930) from the University of California at Berkeley, with a thesis titled "Railroads and Negro Labor." After a brief stint at Stanford Law School, and jobs as a waiter on the Southern Pacific Railroad and as secretary to art patron Noel Sullivan, in October, 1931 he founded and served as editor of the San Francisco Spokesman (a weekly newspaper for the Bay Area African American community), which by 1934 had been renamed The Spokesman, reflecting Pittman's broader ambitions and leftward political evolution. During that year's San Francisco general strike, he lent The Spokesman's printing presses to the fledgling Communist Party newspaper, the Western Worker, resulting in their destruction by right-wing vigilantes. Then Pittman went to work for the Western Worker, becoming by 1941 the editor of its successor, the (daily) People's World. In this capacity, he was a frequent guest on radio station KSAN (San Francisco) in 1941-1942.
In 1945 he covered the founding conference of the United Nations, and in 1946 received his divorce from his first wife Merle Nance Pittman. In 1947 Pittman traveled to Europe as a correspondent for the Communist Party's newspapers Daily Worker (New York) and People's World, and for the Chicago Defender, a trip made possible by progressive notables including Lena Horne, Paul Jarrico, Albert Maltz, and Dalton Trumbo, whose financial support was coordinated by Los Angeles attorney Leo Gallagher. After his return he married fellow communist Margrit Adler, a German-Jewish antifascist refugee and German-American political activist. They remained in New York until 1955, when they moved to San Francisco with their two children, Carol and John Peter. There Pittman again worked for the People's World. From 1959-1961 the Pittmans were Moscow correspondents for the CPUSA press. In 1968 Pittman came to New York to become the founding co-editor of the Daily World (the result of the merger of the Party's West and East Coast weekly newspapers). In the late 1970s Pittman went to Prague as the Party's representative on the editorial board of the World Marxist Review, returning to New York in 1987. In addition to his newspaper writings, Pittman contributed some two dozen articles to the Party's monthly journal Political Affairs, and wrote Africa Calling, Isolate the Racists: The Liberation Struggle in Southern Africa(1973), and (with Margrit Pittman) Sense and Nonsense About Berlin(1962) and Peaceful Coexistence: Its Theory and Practice in the Soviet Union(1964).
John Pittman (1906-1993), an African-American communist journalist, was born in Atlanta, graduated from Morehouse College, and received an M.A. in Economics (1930) from the University of California at Berkeley, with a thesis titled "Railroads and Negro Labor." After a brief stint at Stanford Law School, and jobs as a waiter on the Southern Pacific Railroad and as secretary to art patron Noel Sullivan, in October, 1931 he founded and served as editor of the San Francisco Spokesman (a weekly newspaper for the Bay Area African American community), which by 1934 had been renamed The Spokesman, reflecting Pittman's broader ambitions and leftward political evolution. During that year's San Francisco general strike, he lent The Spokesman's printing presses to the fledgling Communist Party newspaper, the Western Worker, resulting in their destruction by right-wing vigilantes. Then Pittman went to work for the Western Worker, becoming by 1941 the editor of its successor, the (daily) People's World. In this capacity, he was a frequent guest on radio station KSAN (San Francisco) in 1941-1942.
In 1945 he covered the founding conference of the United Nations, and in 1946 received his divorce from his first wife Merle Nance Pittman. In 1947 Pittman traveled to Europe as a correspondent for the Communist Party's newspapers Daily Worker (New York) and People's World, and for the Chicago Defender, a trip made possible by progressive notables including Lena Horne, Paul Jarrico, Albert Maltz, and Dalton Trumbo, whose financial support was coordinated by Los Angeles attorney Leo Gallagher. After his return he married fellow communist Margrit Adler, a German-Jewish antifascist refugee and German-American political activist. They remained in New York until 1955, when they moved to San Francisco with their two children, Carol and John Peter. There Pittman again worked for the People's World. From 1959-1961 the Pittmans were Moscow correspondents for the CPUSA press. In 1968 Pittman came to New York to become the founding co-editor of the Daily World (the result of the merger of the Party's West and East Coast weekly newspapers). In the late 1970s Pittman went to Prague as the Party's representative on the editorial board of the World Marxist Review, returning to New York in 1987. In addition to his newspaper writings, Pittman contributed some two dozen articles to the Party's monthly journal Political Affairs, and wrote Africa Calling, Isolate the Racists: The Liberation Struggle in Southern Africa(1973), and (with Margrit Pittman) Sense and Nonsense About Berlin(1962) and Peaceful Coexistence: Its Theory and Practice in the Soviet Union(1964).
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John Pittman (1906-1993), an African-American communist journalist, was born in Atlanta, graduated from Morehouse College, and received an M.A. in Economics (1930) from the University of California at Berkeley, with a thesis titled "Railroads and Negro Labor." After a brief stint at Stanford Law School, and jobs as a waiter on the Southern Pacific Railroad and as secretary to art patron Noel Sullivan, in October, 1931 he founded and served as editor of the San Francisco Spokesman (a weekly newspaper for the Bay Area African American community), which by 1934 had been renamed The Spokesman, reflecting Pittman's broader ambitions and leftward political evolution. During that year's San Francisco general strike, he lent The Spokesman's printing presses to the fledgling Communist Party newspaper, the Western Worker, resulting in their destruction by right-wing vigilantes. Then Pittman went to work for the Western Worker, becoming by 1941 the editor of its successor, the (daily) People's World. In this capacity, he was a frequent guest on radio station KSAN (San Francisco) in 1941-1942.
In 1945 he covered the founding conference of the United Nations, and in 1946 received his divorce from his first wife Merle Nance Pittman. In 1947 Pittman traveled to Europe as a correspondent for the Communist Party's newspapers Daily Worker (New York) and People's World, and for the Chicago Defender, a trip made possible by progressive notables including Lena Horne, Paul Jarrico, Albert Maltz, and Dalton Trumbo, whose financial support was coordinated by Los Angeles attorney Leo Gallagher. After his return he married fellow communist Margrit Adler, a German-Jewish antifascist refugee and German-American political activist. They remained in New York until 1955, when they moved to San Francisco with their two children, Carol and John Peter. There Pittman again worked for the People's World. From 1959-1961 the Pittmans were Moscow correspondents for the CPUSA press. In 1968 Pittman came to New York to become the founding co-editor of the Daily World (the result of the merger of the Party's West and East Coast weekly newspapers). In the late 1970s Pittman went to Prague as the Party's representative on the editorial board of the World Marxist Review, returning to New York in 1987. In addition to his newspaper writings, Pittman contributed some two dozen articles to the Party's monthly journal Political Affairs, and wrote Africa Calling, Isolate the Racists: The Liberation Struggle in Southern Africa(1973), and (with Margrit Pittman) Sense and Nonsense About Berlin(1962) and Peaceful Coexistence: Its Theory and Practice in the Soviet Union(1964).
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John Pittman (1906-1993), an African-American communist journalist, was born in Atlanta, graduated from Morehouse College, and received an M.A. in Economics (1930) from the University of California at Berkeley, with a thesis titled "Railroads and Negro Labor." After a brief stint at Stanford Law School, and jobs as a waiter on the Southern Pacific Railroad and as secretary to art patron Noel Sullivan, in October, 1931 he founded and served as editor of the San Francisco Spokesman (a weekly newspaper for the Bay Area African American community), which by 1934 had been renamed The Spokesman, reflecting Pittman's broader ambitions and leftward political evolution. During that year's San Francisco general strike, he lent The Spokesman's printing presses to the fledgling Communist Party newspaper, the Western Worker, resulting in their destruction by right-wing vigilantes. Then Pittman went to work for the Western Worker, becoming by 1941 the editor of its successor, the (daily) People's World. In this capacity, he was a frequent guest on radio station KSAN (San Francisco) in 1941-1942.
In 1945 he covered the founding conference of the United Nations, and in 1946 received his divorce from his first wife Merle Nance Pittman. In 1947 Pittman traveled to Europe as a correspondent for the Communist Party's newspapers Daily Worker (New York) and People's World, and for the Chicago Defender, a trip made possible by progressive notables including Lena Horne, Paul Jarrico, Albert Maltz, and Dalton Trumbo, whose financial support was coordinated by Los Angeles attorney Leo Gallagher. After his return he married fellow communist Margrit Adler, a German-Jewish antifascist refugee and German-American political activist. They remained in New York until 1955, when they moved to San Francisco with their two children, Carol and John Peter. There Pittman again worked for the People's World. From 1959-1961 the Pittmans were Moscow correspondents for the CPUSA press. In 1968 Pittman came to New York to become the founding co-editor of the Daily World (the result of the merger of the Party's West and East Coast weekly newspapers). In the late 1970s Pittman went to Prague as the Party's representative on the editorial board of the World Marxist Review, returning to New York in 1987. In addition to his newspaper writings, Pittman contributed some two dozen articles to the Party's monthly journal Political Affairs, and wrote Africa Calling, Isolate the Racists: The Liberation Struggle in Southern Africa(1973), and (with Margrit Pittman) Sense and Nonsense About Berlin(1962) and Peaceful Coexistence: Its Theory and Practice in the Soviet Union(1964).
Biographical note in online finding aid for John Pittman Papers at Tamiment Library, viewed August 27, 2020
John Pittman (1906-1993), an African-American communist journalist, was born in Atlanta, graduated from Morehouse College, and received an M.A. in Economics (1930) from the University of California at Berkeley, with a thesis titled "Railroads and Negro Labor." After a brief stint at Stanford Law School, and jobs as a waiter on the Southern Pacific Railroad and as secretary to art patron Noel Sullivan, in October, 1931 he founded and served as editor of the San Francisco Spokesman (a weekly newspaper for the Bay Area African American community), which by 1934 had been renamed The Spokesman, reflecting Pittman's broader ambitions and leftward political evolution. During that year's San Francisco general strike, he lent The Spokesman's printing presses to the fledgling Communist Party newspaper, the Western Worker, resulting in their destruction by right-wing vigilantes. Then Pittman went to work for the Western Worker, becoming by 1941 the editor of its successor, the (daily) People's World. In this capacity, he was a frequent guest on radio station KSAN (San Francisco) in 1941-1942.
In 1945 he covered the founding conference of the United Nations, and in 1946 received his divorce from his first wife Merle Nance Pittman. In 1947 Pittman traveled to Europe as a correspondent for the Communist Party's newspapers Daily Worker (New York) and People's World, and for the Chicago Defender, a trip made possible by progressive notables including Lena Horne, Paul Jarrico, Albert Maltz, and Dalton Trumbo, whose financial support was coordinated by Los Angeles attorney Leo Gallagher. After his return he married fellow communist Margrit Adler, a German-Jewish antifascist refugee and German-American political activist. They remained in New York until 1955, when they moved to San Francisco with their two children, Carol and John Peter. There Pittman again worked for the People's World. From 1959-1961 the Pittmans were Moscow correspondents for the CPUSA press. In 1968 Pittman came to New York to become the founding co-editor of the Daily World (the result of the merger of the Party's West and East Coast weekly newspapers). In the late 1970s Pittman went to Prague as the Party's representative on the editorial board of the World Marxist Review, returning to New York in 1987. In addition to his newspaper writings, Pittman contributed some two dozen articles to the Party's monthly journal Political Affairs, and wrote Africa Calling, Isolate the Racists: The Liberation Struggle in Southern Africa(1973), and (with Margrit Pittman) Sense and Nonsense About Berlin(1962) and Peaceful Coexistence: Its Theory and Practice in the Soviet Union(1964).
Administrative files, departmental scrapbooks, correspondence, information on symposia and assemblies of the International Astronomy Union, and miscellaneous records. Includes substantial information on eclipses and extensive correspondence with astronomers throughout the world. Correspondents include: Margaret E. Powell, L.J. Comrie, Peter van de Kamp, Sarah Lee Lippincott, James F. Wanner, Harry J. Augensen, J. Francisco Villamediana, John A. Miller, John H. Pitman, Ross W. Marriott, and many other individuals and institutions.
Guide to the Simon W. and Sophie Gerson Papers, 1925-2001
Title:
Guide to the Simon W. and Sophie Gerson Papers
Simon W. (Si) Gerson, 1909-2004, was the longtime New York State, and later national legislative/political action director for the Communist Party, and was an advocate of proportional representation and ballot access for minor political parties, including in the 1980s-90s as a leader of the Coalition for Free and Open Elections (COFOE). He served as Confidential Examiner to Manhattan Borough President Stanley M. Isaacs, 1938-40, managed Communist election campaigns (later writing a biography Pete: The Story of Peter V. Cacchione, New York's First Communist Councilman), and organized activities in support of the Communist Party leaders indicted under the Smith Act, as was Gerson. In the 1950s he was executive editor of the Party's newspaper, the Daily Worker, and of its later successor, the Daily World. Along with his wife, Sophie Melvin Gerson, an organizer of the Gastonia Textile Strike of 1929, he was a longtime resident of and community activist in the Bensonhurst neighborhood in Brooklyn, New York. The papers contain clippings, correspondence with leading communists and political figures, published and unpublished writings including manuscripts, memorandums, newspaper columns, reviews and reports, a scrapbook and speeches, including materials relating to Cacchione's career and death, and to Gerson's several campaigns for public office, research notes and typescript drafts for several chapters of a never-completed book, "Do We Really Have Free Elections (ca. 1990)," a related manuscript by Adam Lapin, "Tweedledum and Tweedledee: The American Two Party System," Communist Party internal documents, including reports by leading figures, many relating to the communist political crises of 1956-58 and 1989-91, and minutes of and correspondence relating to COFOE and the publication Ballot Access News.
ArchivalResource:
15 Linear Feet in 30 manuscript boxes, 1 record carton, 1 flat box and 1 oversize folder in a shared flat box.
Guide to the John Pittman Papers, circa 1880s-1987
Guide to the John Pittman Papers, circa 1880s-1987
Title:
Guide to the John Pittman Papers, circa 1880s-1987
John Pittman (1906-1993) was an African-American communist journalist and writer born in Atlanta. He graduated from Morehouse College, and received an M.A. in Economics (1930) from the University of California at Berkeley. In 1931, he founded and served as editor of the <i>San Francisco Spokesman</i>, renamed <i>The Spokesman</i>. Pittman became an editor of the (daily) <i>People's World</i>. Pittman traveled to Europe as a correspondent for the Communist Party's newspapers: <i>Daily Worker</i> (New York), <i>People's World</i>, and for the <i>Chicago Defender</i>. He married fellow communist Margrit Adler and together were Moscow correspondents for the CPUSA press. Pittman was also the founding co-editor of the <i>Daily World</i> in New York. The collection includes biographical materials, correspondence, writings, documentation of his political activities, photographs, graphics, and realia.
ArchivalResource:
6.25 Linear Feet in 6 record cartons and 10 folders in one shared box
John Pittman Papers, Bulk, 1926-1983, 1905-1987, (Bulk 1926-1983)
0
Pittman, John, 1906-1993
referencedIn
Guide to the Communist Party of the United States of America Oral History Collection, 1962 - 1992
Guide to the Communist Party of the United States of America Oral History Collection, 1962 - 1992
Title:
Guide to the Communist Party of the United States of America Oral History Collection, 1962 - 1992
The Communist Party of the United States of America (CPUSA), founded in 1919 by members of the left wing of the Socialist Party USA, played an important role in the labor movement, particularly in the building of the Congress of Industrial Organizations, in struggles for civil rights for African Americans, while its cultural initiatives attracted a number of prominent artists and intellectuals, and its struggles to attain and maintain its legality were an important chapter in the history of U.S. civil liberties. The collection contains interviews with 41 Communist Party leaders and activists, including several founding members. The bulk of the interviews were conducted during the 1980s by Mary Licht, then chair of the Party's History Commission. Interviews with African American and Jewish Party members comprise the majority of the collection.
ArchivalResource:
1.5 Linear Feet In 1 record carton and 2 cassette boxes, 114 sound discs (cd) in 2 cassette boxes, 41 interviews on 94 cassettes
Communist Party of the United States of America Oral History Collection, Bulk, 1980-1990, 1962 - 1992
0
Pittman, John, 1906-1993
referencedIn
Guide to the James E. Jackson and Esther Cooper Jackson Papers, 1917-2018
Guide to the James E. Jackson and Esther Cooper Jackson Papers, 1917-2018
Title:
Guide to the James E. Jackson and Esther Cooper Jackson Papers, 1917-2018
James E. Jackson (1914-2007) and Esther Cooper Jackson (1917- ) are African American communists and civil rights activists, best known for their role in founding and leading the Southern Negro Youth Congress (1937-48). James Jackson was head of the Communist Party of the United States of America (CPUSA) Louisiana state organization in 1946, and was a Party organizer in the automobile industry in Detroit from 1947-50. He then moved to New York, becoming the Southern Director for the Communist Party. In 1951 he was indicted under the Smith Act, and became a fugitive until 1955. He later served as the Communist Party's Educational Director and as International Affairs Secretary, retiring in 1991. Esther Cooper Jackson served as Executive Secretary of the Southern Negro Congress from 1942-1946. She also co-founded and served as the managing editor from 1961-86 of Freedomways, an influential African American political and cultural quarterly. The papers contain clippings of articles by and about Jackson; correspondence of both Esther Cooper and James E. Jackson, including the Jacksons' voluminous World War II correspondence with each other; James Jackson's lectures, research notebooks, speeches, and writings and subject files. Also included are correspondence, internal documents and printed ephemera pertaining to the Southern Negro Youth Congress, and to Freedomways, legal and other materials pertaining to the Smith Act indictments of James Jackson and other communists as well as Communist Party internal documents.
ArchivalResource:
37.50 Linear Feet in 26 record cartons, 5 manuscript boxes, 1 half manuscript box, 6 oversize flat boxes, 1 small flat box, 1 small box, and 2 flat file folders
James E. Jackson and Esther Cooper Jackson Papers, Bulk, 1937-1992, 1917-2008
0
Pittman, John, 1906-1993
referencedIn
Guide to the Daily Worker and Daily World Photographs Collection, 1920-2001
Guide to the Daily Worker and Daily World Photographs Collection, 1920-2001
Title:
Guide to the Daily Worker and Daily World Photographs Collection, 1920-2001
The official organ of the Communist Party, USA, the Daily Worker's editorial positions reflected the policies of the Communist Party. At the same time the paper also attempted to speak to the broad left-wing community in the United States that included labor, civil rights, and peace activists, with stories covering a wide range of events, organizations and individuals in the United States and around the world. As a daily newspaper, it covered the major stories of the twentieth century. However, the paper always placed an emphasis on radical social movements, social and economic conditions particularly in working class and minority communities, poverty, labor struggles, racial discrimination, right wing extremism with an emphasis on fascist and Nazi movements, and of course the Soviet Union and the world-wide Communist movement. The paper has had a succession of names and has been published in varying frequences between daily to weekly over the course of its existence. In 2010 it ceased print publication and became an electronic, online-only, weekly publication titled the People's World. The bulk of the collection consists of printed photographic images produced through a variety of processes, collected by the photography editors of the Daily Worker and its successor newspapers as a means of maintaining an organized collection of images for use in publication. Images of many important people, groups and events associated with the CPUSA and the American Left are present in the collection, as well as images of a wide variety of people, subjects and events not explicitly linked with the CPUSA or Left politics.
ArchivalResource:
227 Linear Feet in 226 record cartons and 2 oversized boxes
John Pittman (1906-1993), an African-American communist journalist, was born in Atlanta, graduated from Morehouse College, and received an M.A. in Economics (1930) from the University of California at Berkeley, with a thesis titled "Railroads and Negro Labor." After a brief stint at Stanford Law School, and jobs as a waiter on the Southern Pacific Railroad and as secretary to art patron Noel Sullivan, in October, 1931 he founded and served as editor of the San Francisco Spokesman (a weekly newspaper for the Bay Area African American community), which by 1934 had been renamed The Spokesman, reflecting Pittman's broader ambitions and leftward political evolution. During that year's San Francisco general strike, he lent The Spokesman's printing presses to the fledgling Communist Party newspaper, the Western Worker, resulting in their destruction by right-wing vigilantes. Then Pittman went to work for the Western Worker, becoming by 1941 the editor of its successor, the (daily) People's World. In this capacity, he was a frequent guest on radio station KSAN (San Francisco) in 1941-1942.
In 1945 he covered the founding conference of the United Nations, and in 1946 received his divorce from his first wife Merle Nance Pittman. In 1947 Pittman traveled to Europe as a correspondent for the Communist Party's newspapers Daily Worker (New York) and People's World, and for the Chicago Defender, a trip made possible by progressive notables including Lena Horne, Paul Jarrico, Albert Maltz, and Dalton Trumbo, whose financial support was coordinated by Los Angeles attorney Leo Gallagher. After his return he married fellow communist Margrit Adler, a German-Jewish antifascist refugee and German-American political activist. They remained in New York until 1955, when they moved to San Francisco with their two children, Carol and John Peter. There Pittman again worked for the People's World. From 1959-1961 the Pittmans were Moscow correspondents for the CPUSA press. In 1968 Pittman came to New York to become the founding co-editor of the Daily World (the result of the merger of the Party's West and East Coast weekly newspapers). In the late 1970s Pittman went to Prague as the Party's representative on the editorial board of the World Marxist Review, returning to New York in 1987. In addition to his newspaper writings, Pittman contributed some two dozen articles to the Party's monthly journal Political Affairs, and wrote Africa Calling, Isolate the Racists: The Liberation Struggle in Southern Africa(1973), and (with Margrit Pittman) Sense and Nonsense About Berlin(1962) and Peaceful Coexistence: Its Theory and Practice in the Soviet Union(1964).
1
Pittman, John, 1906-1993
associatedWith
Randolph, A. Philip (Asa Philip), 1889-1979
Randolph, A. Philip (Asa Philip), 1889-1979 http://n2t.net/ark:/99166/w66h4mfn
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John Pittman (1906-1993), an African-American communist journalist, was born in Atlanta, graduated from Morehouse College, and received an M.A. in Economics (1930) from the University of California at Berkeley, with a thesis titled "Railroads and Negro Labor." After a brief stint at Stanford Law School, and jobs as a waiter on the Southern Pacific Railroad and as secretary to art patron Noel Sullivan, in October, 1931 he founded and served as editor of the San Francisco Spokesman (a weekly newspaper for the Bay Area African American community), which by 1934 had been renamed The Spokesman, reflecting Pittman's broader ambitions and leftward political evolution. During that year's San Francisco general strike, he lent The Spokesman's printing presses to the fledgling Communist Party newspaper, the Western Worker, resulting in their destruction by right-wing vigilantes. Then Pittman went to work for the Western Worker, becoming by 1941 the editor of its successor, the (daily) People's World. In this capacity, he was a frequent guest on radio station KSAN (San Francisco) in 1941-1942.
In 1945 he covered the founding conference of the United Nations, and in 1946 received his divorce from his first wife Merle Nance Pittman. In 1947 Pittman traveled to Europe as a correspondent for the Communist Party's newspapers Daily Worker (New York) and People's World, and for the Chicago Defender, a trip made possible by progressive notables including Lena Horne, Paul Jarrico, Albert Maltz, and Dalton Trumbo, whose financial support was coordinated by Los Angeles attorney Leo Gallagher. After his return he married fellow communist Margrit Adler, a German-Jewish antifascist refugee and German-American political activist. They remained in New York until 1955, when they moved to San Francisco with their two children, Carol and John Peter. There Pittman again worked for the People's World. From 1959-1961 the Pittmans were Moscow correspondents for the CPUSA press. In 1968 Pittman came to New York to become the founding co-editor of the Daily World (the result of the merger of the Party's West and East Coast weekly newspapers). In the late 1970s Pittman went to Prague as the Party's representative on the editorial board of the World Marxist Review, returning to New York in 1987. In addition to his newspaper writings, Pittman contributed some two dozen articles to the Party's monthly journal Political Affairs, and wrote Africa Calling, Isolate the Racists: The Liberation Struggle in Southern Africa(1973), and (with Margrit Pittman) Sense and Nonsense About Berlin(1962) and Peaceful Coexistence: Its Theory and Practice in the Soviet Union(1964).
John Pittman (1906-1993), an African-American communist journalist, was born in Atlanta, graduated from Morehouse College, and received an M.A. in Economics (1930) from the University of California at Berkeley, with a thesis titled "Railroads and Negro Labor." After a brief stint at Stanford Law School, and jobs as a waiter on the Southern Pacific Railroad and as secretary to art patron Noel Sullivan, in October, 1931 he founded and served as editor of the San Francisco Spokesman (a weekly newspaper for the Bay Area African American community), which by 1934 had been renamed The Spokesman, reflecting Pittman's broader ambitions and leftward political evolution. During that year's San Francisco general strike, he lent The Spokesman's printing presses to the fledgling Communist Party newspaper, the Western Worker, resulting in their destruction by right-wing vigilantes. Then Pittman went to work for the Western Worker, becoming by 1941 the editor of its successor, the (daily) People's World. In this capacity, he was a frequent guest on radio station KSAN (San Francisco) in 1941-1942.
In 1945 he covered the founding conference of the United Nations, and in 1946 received his divorce from his first wife Merle Nance Pittman. In 1947 Pittman traveled to Europe as a correspondent for the Communist Party's newspapers Daily Worker (New York) and People's World, and for the Chicago Defender, a trip made possible by progressive notables including Lena Horne, Paul Jarrico, Albert Maltz, and Dalton Trumbo, whose financial support was coordinated by Los Angeles attorney Leo Gallagher. After his return he married fellow communist Margrit Adler, a German-Jewish antifascist refugee and German-American political activist. They remained in New York until 1955, when they moved to San Francisco with their two children, Carol and John Peter. There Pittman again worked for the People's World. From 1959-1961 the Pittmans were Moscow correspondents for the CPUSA press. In 1968 Pittman came to New York to become the founding co-editor of the Daily World (the result of the merger of the Party's West and East Coast weekly newspapers). In the late 1970s Pittman went to Prague as the Party's representative on the editorial board of the World Marxist Review, returning to New York in 1987. In addition to his newspaper writings, Pittman contributed some two dozen articles to the Party's monthly journal Political Affairs, and wrote Africa Calling, Isolate the Racists: The Liberation Struggle in Southern Africa(1973), and (with Margrit Pittman) Sense and Nonsense About Berlin(1962) and Peaceful Coexistence: Its Theory and Practice in the Soviet Union(1964).
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