Reel 3

Scope and Contents From the Collection: Consist of correspondence, reports, ledgers, legal documents, leaflets, printed material, photographs, and newspapers published by the union. These document the activities of the Southern Tenant Farmers' Union from its origins through its transformations into the National Farm Labor Union in 1946 and the National Agriculture Workers Union in 1952, and through its merger with the Amalgamated Meat Cutters Union in 1960. The records also contain selected materials from the Socialist Party...

Scope and Contents Governor Futrell's Commission on Farm Tenancy met at Hot Springs on September 21; see the STFU Statement to the Commission which appears on that date. Other topics in the papers include the speaking tours of Socialist Party candidates Norman Thomas and George A. Nelson, including Thomas' Memphis speech entitled "Arkansas Shame" (17), the STFU claim that WPA officials were dropping workers from the relief rolls in an attempt to drive down Arkansas plantation wages, and arrangements with the...

Scope and Contents The first half of the month was relatively quiet for the STFU. The union filed a Supplementary Statement to Gov. Futrell's Commission (10), and a similar commission in Oklahoma issued a report of its proceedings (22). Mitchell wrote organizer Roy Morelock to explain the new system of record keeping adopted by the union (13). During the second half of October, two major issues developed: the complaint of organizer L.N. Sybert that white union officials were not fair in their treatment of...

Scope and Contents There is considerable correspondence concerning the Isgrig statement during the first half of the month, including a copy of a letter from Isgrig to Aron S. Gilmartin, head of the WDL (3). Other items of interest include: a letter from Mitchell to Norman Thomas, describing his recent meeting in Tampa, Florida, with Gardner Jackson and Donald Henderson in an attempt to iron out the differences between Henderson and the STFU (17); a report from Ward Rodgers on a lettuce workers strike in the...

Scope and Contents The papers for this month are primarily concerned with preparations for events scheduled to take place in January, including the STFU Annual Convention held at Muskogee, Okla., on Jan. 14 to 17, the Southern meeting of the Socialist Party at Norris, Tenn., on Jan. 2 and 3, and the public hearings of the President's Special Commission on Farm Tenancy, held at Dallas, Texas, and Montgomery, Alabama, on Jan. 4 and 6, respectively. At the beginning of December, the Workers Defense League sent...

Scope and Contents Monthly reports from the Edmondson and Post locals; Relief Survey Tabulation, Oklahoma; poem by Robert Lee Eckford, a 10 year old black student; leaflets for strikes and mass meetings; prospectus , "A Suggested Workers' Education Program for East Arkansas"; bill drafted by STFU for the Arkansas legislature proposing the creation of a Bureau of Landlords and Tenants; copies of affidavits by union members describing anti-union violence during the strike; "Table of Cases Involving the STFU" (a...

Scope and Contents

Folder 83 -- Not Filmed. Folder 87 -- Local Secretaries' Reports. Folder 88 -- State and County Secretaries' Reports. Folder 89 -- Strike Ballots. Folder 90 -- Not Filmed.