Reel 39

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 The papers for July are filled with official forms from the NLRB having to do with elections held in various Louisiana rice mills, all lost by the NAWU. On the rice workers campaign, see also the correspondence between Mitchell and NAWU organizer Joe Guidry (July 5,11,15,20). The UPWA strike against two Louisiana sugar companies went into its fourteenth week at the beginning of August; the papers include a seven-page UPWA statement (Aug. 1), a report by Mitchell (n.d. [August]), and a letter...

Scope and Contents In late September, a mob in Holmes County, Mississippi, called together by the local White Citizens Council, ordered NAWU Secretary-Treasurer A. E. Cox and Dr. David Minter of the Providence Cooperative Farm to leave the state. Mitchell and the NSF immediately began efforts to investigate the situation and to secure FBI protection for Cox and Minter. Correspondence relating to their efforts begins on September 29 and continues throughout October; see especially the reports by Mitchell (Oct...

Scope and Contents Following the Cox incident, Mitchell began an investigation of the activities of White Citizens Councils in the South, with a special view toward their anti-labor animus. The papers include two versions of his report (Nov. 21; Dec 1), a letter from the Southern Education Reporting Service listing various groups opposed to integration (Nov. 14) a similar list compiled by Mitchell (Dec 28), and an especially interesting letter from Mitchell to NSF Secretary Fay Bennett on the role of Southern...

Scope and Contents

Summary of Negotiations between the NAWU and UPWA; a memorandum by Mitchell on "Communists in the Packinghouse Workers Union"; a report by Mitchell on Senator Allen J. Ellender of Louisiana; a report entitled "Data on Trade Unions in Agriculture"; bulletins of the Memphis Agricultural Club; a list of the membership of NAWU Rice Workers Local 321, 1954-1956 [Note: Two similar lists which appear to contain duplicate information were not filmed.]

Scope and Contents During 1956 the union became involved in protracted negotiations with the AFL-CIO leadership in an effort to secure financial help for a major organizing drive among farm workers; see Mitchell's memorandum to AFL-CIO Organization Director John W. Livingston (Jan. 12), an exchange between Mitchell and AMC Secretary-Treasurer Pat Gorman on the attitude of George Meany toward the NAWU (Jan. 19, 27), and a memorandum on a conversation between Galarza and Walter P. Reuther on the union's future...

Scope and Contents There is a confidential memorandum by Mitchell to the AFL-CIO on the evidence of a major revolt among southern AFL-CIO members against the organization's civil rights policy (March 12); see also Mitchell's letters to AFL-CIO Civil Rights Director Boris Shiskin and to Walter Reuther on the same subject (March 7; April 26). There is also an exchange between Mitchell and George Meany on the subject of organizing small farmers (March 28; April 13). The papers include two unpublished magazine...

Scope and Contents The major issue in the papers during these months is the alleged "deal" made by the Louisiana State Labor Council to secure repeal of the state's Right-to-Work Law by excluding agricultural workers from the repeal. On this subject, see a 21-page maw report entitled "Dateline for a Deal" (Aug 20), Mitchell's draft pamphlet (Sept. 5), a WDL memorandum (Sept. 21), and a letter from George Meany on the AFL-CIO Executive Council's decision in the controversy (Sept 18). There are several reports...

Scope and Contents The proposed merger between the NAWU and the AMC is the main topic in the correspondence at the end of 1956. Items of special interest related to the merger negotiations include Mitchell's statement to the AMC International Executive Board (Oct 6), an exchange between Galarza and Mitchell on the negotiations (Nov 6, 13), a memorandum on a conference with George Meany to discuss the merger (Oct 16), and a copy of a letter from Gardner Jackson to NFU President James G. Patton, asking him to...

Scope and Contents

A report by NSF on "The Condition of Farm Workers in 1956"; UPWA statement on the US-Mexican International Agreement; list of 41 NAWU "experienced agricultural organizers", including a brief biographical sketch of each organizer; a 26-page NAQU Study Outline For Officers of Local Unions; biographical sketches of Mississippi politicians with supposed connections with the White Citizens Council