C.L.R. James letters 1939-1981 1939-1946

ArchivalResource

C.L.R. James letters 1939-1981 1939-1946

West Indian scholar, political activist and writer. Died in 1989. Collection consists mainly of letters written by James to his former wife and political associate, Constance Webb. James' letters discuss a wide variety of subjects including love, politics, especially Marxism, art, history, sports, literature, and popular culture. Also included are miscellaneous letters and organizational materials documenting James' political activities in the United States, 1938-1953; and letters written to Webb regarding her writings on Richard Wright from Arna Bontemps, Lawrence Reddick, and Ellen Wright. Numerous letters also discuss the Johnson-Forest Tendency, a faction led by C.L.R. James under the pseudonym of J.R. Johnson and Raya Dunayevskaya (also known as Freddie Forest) within the Socialist Workers Party, which later evolved into the group, Facing Reality.

1.4; 3 1/2 a.b.

Information

SNAC Resource ID: 6316999

Related Entities

There are 9 Entities related to this resource.

Bontemps, Arna, 1902-1973

http://n2t.net/ark:/99166/w6z329rw (person)

African-American poet, critic, playwright, novelist, author of children’s books, librarian. From the guide to the Arna Bontemps Papers, 1927-1968, (Special Collections Research Center, Syracuse University Libraries) Teacher in New York, N.Y., and Huntsville, Ala.; head librarian, Fisk University; professor, University of Chicago; curator of James Weldon Johnson Collection and visiting professor of English, Yale University; writer in residence, Fisk University; and author. ...

Johnson-Forest Tendency

http://n2t.net/ark:/99166/w6k69d2f (corporateBody)

Reddick, Lawrence Dunbar, 1910-

http://n2t.net/ark:/99166/w65142x5 (person)

Lawrence D. Reddick served as curator of the Schomburg Collection of Negro Literature, 1939-1948. An African-American historian, Reddick was interested in the role of the black soldier in U.S. wars and published on this topic. Concerned that the role of black soldiers during World War II would not be portrayed accurately by the government, the mainstream or black press, Reddick initiated a campaign to document the experiences of blacks in the military using their first hand accounts. He placed a...

James, C. L. R. (Cyril Lionel Robert), 1901-1989

http://n2t.net/ark:/99166/w6gm8gx9 (person)

C.L.R. James has made exceptional contributions as a historian, political theorist, activist, creative writer, and cultural and literary critic. One of the most influential figures in the West Indies, he has been acclaimed as one of the foremost thinkers of the 20th century. From the description of The black Jacobins / by C.L.R. James, 1967. (Pennsylvania State University Libraries). WorldCat record id: 50616692 West Indian scholar, political activist and writer. Died in 198...

Boggs, Grace Lee, 1915-2015

http://n2t.net/ark:/99166/w6bp0rx1 (person)

Grace Lee Boggs, who received a Ph.D. from Bryn Mawr College in 1940, co-authored Revolution and Evolution in the Twentieth Century and Conversations in Maine with her husband. Dr. Boggs was also employed by the city of Detroit as a teacher for many years. The Boggses also contributed to the founding of the National Organization for an American Revolution (NOAR) from 1979-1981 and were primary theorists and organizers for NOAR from 1979-1987. During the 1970's and 1980's the Boggses spent much o...

Wright, Ellen

http://n2t.net/ark:/99166/w6288xpc (person)

Epithet: afterwards Standing; composer British Library Archives and Manuscripts Catalogue : Person : Description : ark:/81055/vdc_100000000507.0x000156 ...

Dunayevskaya, Raya

http://n2t.net/ark:/99166/w6ph4p74 (person)

Webb, Constance

http://n2t.net/ark:/99166/w6749nn5 (person)

BIOGHIST REQUIRED Writer, actress, and model Constance Webb (1918-2005) was the second wife of C. L. R. James (1901-1989). BIOGHIST REQUIRED Webb, the fifth of six children, was born and raised in Fresno, California. Her parents, Minerva Susan Reynolds Webb, and, George Detwyler Webb, were originally from Atlanta, Georgia. Webb joined the Socialist Party as a teenager; married and divorced two men, Norman Henderson, Jr. and Edward Keller, by the time she was twenty-five;...

Wright, Richard, 1908-1960

http://n2t.net/ark:/99166/w6df6vk8 (person)

Richard Nathaniel Wright was born September 4, 1908 near Natchez, Mississippi, to Ella Wilson Wright, a schoolteacher, and Nathan Wright, a sharecropper. The story of Richard Wright's childhood, with its harrowing episodes of abandonment by his father, his temporary consignment to an orphanage after his mother became ill, and his short-lived schooling under the harsh guardianship of his grandmother have been detailed in his autobiography, Black Boy (published in 1945 by Harper & Row)....