Smith to RPW Letter 1/11/66
Tina Smith of SNCC invites Warren (following a telephone conversation) to participate in a Book and Author Party fundraiser featuring authors who have recently written about civil rights; they hope to have books available at the party for guests to purchase. Smith invites Warren to choose a date convenient for him.
Warren was recommended to the SNCC party planners by staff members of The New Republic.
The letter asks for a swift reply, and the envelope indicates the correspondence was sent Special Delivery.
Related Documents:
Campbell to RPW Letter 12/7/65
Smith to RPW Letter 1/11/66 Searchable Text
Collapse
Student Nonviolent
Coordinating Committee
National Headquarters: 6 Raymond Street, N.W. ' Atlanta 14, Georgia ' Area Code 404 -- 688-0331
Tel. 387-7445 107 Rhode Island Ave., N. W.
Washington, D. C. 20010
January 11, 1966
Mr. Robert Penn Warren
2495 Redding Road
Fairfield, Connecticut
Dear Mr. Warren:
We appreciated the opportunity to speak with you by telephone last
night. As we indicated during that conversation, we would very much like
to have you participate in a Book and Author Party to be given early in
March by the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee in Washington, D.C.,
at theo home of Mr. and Mrs. George M. Pikser. In addition to your national
reputation, your name was suggested to us as particularly appropriate for our
purposes by several staff members of The New Republic magazine who are among
our most respected advisers.
We hope to have present several authors of recent books dealing with
civil rights issues. We will ask each of them to speak about his book and
join in some group discussion thereafter. In addition to yourself, the other
authors we plan to invite are : Mr. Claude Brown; Dr. Howard Zinn, Miss Elizabeth
Sutherland; Miss Sally Belfrage; and Mr. Leonard Holt, all of whom have
written in the field of working to obtain Negro civil rights in this country.
The civil rights struggle is a never ending one. SNCC has been committed
to that fight for the last six years. At present we are facing a
financial crisis which is endangering the survival of our vital programs
in the South of voter registration and political education, of freedom
schools and community centers. With parties such as this one we hope to
raise the necessary funds to keep our efforts alive.
We realize that your schedule must be replete with commitments, and
therefore, we are waiting to hear from you before determining hte exact date
for this affair. We are able to have it either on Saturday, March 4, or
Saturday, March 11, 1966. We can leave the choice between the two dates up
to you.
On the evening of the party, we intend to have on hand copies of each
author's book, which we will offer for sale to the guests. We hope to obtain
these books from the respective publishing houses.
We would appreciate hearing from you as soon as possible, as there
are myriad plans to be made and preparations begun for this affair.
In freedom,
[Signed]
"One Man, One Vote" Tina Smith
SNCC
[Envelope, front:]
Washington Office
STUDENT NONVIOLENT COORDINATING COMMITTEE [Postmark/Postage: Metered. "ONE MAN--ONE VOTE"
107 Rhode Island Avenue, N.W. WASHINGTON D.C. JAN 10 '66]
Washington, D. C. 20001 AIR MAIL SPECIAL DELIVERY
Mr. Robert Penn Warren
2495 Redding Road
Fairfield, Connecticut
AIR MAIL SPECIAL DELIVERY
[Envelope, back:]
[Stamp: RECEIVED A.M. JAN 14 FAIRFIELD, CONN.]
[Time on stamp indicates approximately 6:30]
Collapse
