March, 1940, 1940

National Sharecroppers Week was held from March 4 to 10; papers relating to it include: the schedule of events and speakers (1); mimeographed instructions to local sponsors (4); reports on NSW in Los Angeles from Mary E. Gallagher (12,23); and reports on UCAPAWA efforts to disrupt NSW from Alfred Baker Lewis (18), William R. Amberson (19), and Purnell Benson (19). There is an exchange of correspondence between Gardner Jackson and Frank Crosswaith, head of the Negro Labor Committee, concerning Jackson's Feb. 24 letter to NSW sponsors (5,8,15,18). A dispute arose between Mitchell and Arthur G. McDowell, Labor Secretary of the Socialist Party, concerning Mitchell's negotiations with Lee Pressman of the CIO about possible STFU affiliation (7 to 27). At the end of the month, reports of racial violence arrived from Mississippi and the union lodged a complaint with the Justice Department (28); an affidavit from one of the victims of the violence appears on April 4