The Papers of Clarence Mitchell Jr.

and of the NAACP Washington Bureau 1942 - 1978

 About Us

Washington is not just about the Congress. It is also the numerous executive agencies of government that administer laws affecting our daily lives. In the Capital, the NAACP is a David operating against a great many strongly supported, loud-talking Goliaths. We never forget, however, that the original David won.

             Mitchell’s NAACP Annual Report, 12/21/1950

Roy Wilkins, with Mitchell, presenting his "Humiliation Stalks Them" testimony in 1963 on public accommodations segregation.

Joseph Rauh, Mitchell, and Roy Wilkins conferring about lobbying strategy on August 7, 1963.
 

The Papers of Clarence Mitchell, Jr., and the NAACP Washington Bureau is a documentary editing project that is sponsored by SUNY College at Old Westbury and funded by the National Historical Publications and Records Commission and The Harry Frank Guggenheim Foundation. The project was launched in 2000. It is editing in five volumes the weekly, monthly and annual reports that Mitchell prepared when he was an associate director of field operations at the Fair Employment Practice Committee in Washington from 1942 to 1946, NAACP labor secretary from 1946 to 1950 and director of the NAACP Washington Bureau from 1950 to 1978.

The collection of papers that Mitchell prepared at the NAACP Washington Bureau along with the bureau’s counsel Francis J. Pohlhaus is the most comprehensive documentation available on the struggle for passage of the civil rights laws and establishment of constructive national policies for protection of civil rights. Mitchell’s lobbying partner was Joseph L. Rauh, Jr., a founder of the Americans for Democratic Action, a liberal activist group in Washington.

While the NAACP was Mitchell’s vehicle for his lobbying activities, the Leadership Conference on Civil Rights, a coalition of civil rights, civic, labor, religious, fraternal organizations that was created in 1952 by Walter White, NAACP executive secretary, was the fulcrum of the NAACP’s political operations in Washington. With Roy Wilkins, NAACP executive director, subsequently as chairman of the LCCR, Mitchell, as legislative chairman, directed the strategy that resulted in the fulfillment of the goals of the modern civil rights movement.

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The Papers of Clarence Mitchell Jr.

E-mail: watsond@oldwestbury.edu; paperscm@oldwestbury.edu

Publisher: Ohio University Press, The Ridges, Building 19, Athens, OH 45701-2979

Funded by: National Historical Publications and Records Commission; The Harry Frank Guggenheim Foundation