Matt Nathaniel Crawford, Jr., born in Anniston Alabama (May 18, 1903), was fourth of five children of Matt N. and Emma Goodgame Crawford. He spent his formative years in Oakland, California, where his family moved in 1911, becoming active participants in the life of the small African American community in the San Francisco Bay area. Throughout the 1920s Matt Crawford was active in the local National Association for the Advancement of Colored People and in two social and civic organizations: The Acorn Club and the Phyllis Wheatly Club. During this time he met Evelyn Phyllis Graves (b. 1899), whom he married on September 1, 1929. They had one child, Evelyn Louise (1938). During the 1930s and 1940s Crawford was involved in many civil rights, labor rights and social justice campaigns. He was a founder of the National Negro Labor Council, which fought for equal employment opportunities. He became involved in campaigns to fight discrimination against black workers who wanted to join trade unions and became director of the Northern California Minorities Committee of the Congress of Industrial Organizations (1944-1945). He held the position of Assistant Director of the Council for Civic Unity (1946), and became the West Coast Regional Director of the National Negro Congress and the Civil Rights Congress (1947-1948). Also during the 1940s Matt Crawford began his long time friendship with Paul Robeson and became an active member of the Independent Progressive Party presidential campaign of Henry A. Wallace (1948). Crawford died in Oakland, California on August 26, 1996.
From the description of Matt N. and Evelyn Graves Crawford papers, [ca. 1932-1967]. (Unknown). WorldCat record id: 122463396
