Series II. Correspondence

Correspondence (most incoming), comprising one quarter of the collection, is organized into two subseries, Chronological (1925-1959) and Alphabetical (bulk 1960-1983) and contains letters from family members, friends (including fellow Morehouse alumni), U.S. and foreign Communist cadre, and African American journalists and activists, including numerous letters received in Pittman's capacity as editor of the Spokesman.Correspondents include the African American communists Marvel Cooke, Ben Davis Jr., Ishmael Flory (a lifelong friend), cartoonist Oliver Harrington, Angelo Herndon, James Jackson, William Patterson, Doxey Wilkerson, and Henry Winston; communists Herbert Aptheker, Phil Bart, Morris Childs, Eugene Dennis, Betty Gannett, Gus Hall, V.J. Jerome, Al Richmond, Art Shields, and Jessica Smith; African American newspaper editor Charlotta A. Bass and Max Yergan, both of the Council on African Affairs; Ben Burns and Metz T.P. Lochard (respectively, editor and publisher) of the Chicago Defender; Pittman's parents Carrie Badger Pittman and John Pittman Sr., cousin Claybert Robinson, and other relatives; friends D.D. Richardson, Mason and Doris Roberson, C.V. Roman, Robert "Red" Saxon, and George A. Towns; letters from Cedric Belfrage, Frederick Vanderbilt Field, Lionel Feuchtwanger, attorneys Leo Gallagher and John T. McTernan, Benjamin E. Mays (President, Morehouse College), A. Philip Randolph, Noel Sullivan, Roy Wilkins; and, from Langston Hughes, a 1934 letter ("Dear Johnny") praising Communist-led unions for not discriminating against Negroes. Note that letters from the highlighted correspondents found in Subseries A (Chronological) may also appear in adjacent and/or other folders within this series.