Abstract

Abbott Simon, Esq., (1916-) was an activist in the American Student Union and chair of the American Youth Congress, in which capacity he met and corresponded with Eleanor Roosevelt. Simon was a peace activist in the latter 1940s and early 1950s, serving as executive director of the Peace Information Center, and also occupied a leadership position in the American Peace Crusade, both of which were chaired by W.E.B. Du Bois and opposed U.S. involvement in the Korean War. Simon also served on the board of the W.E.B. Du Bois Foundation. He later assisted Freda Diamond (1905-1998) in her dispute with Paul Robeson biographer Martin Duberman regarding her relationship to Robeson. The collection contains correspondence, including that with Shirley Graham Dubois, W.E.B. Dubois, and Eleanor Roosevelt; correspondence and other materials relating to Simon's military service during World War II; minutes, circulars, and other internal documents of the Peace Information Center, as well as documents of the American Student Union and the American Youth Congress, proceedings of the World Peace Congress (Washington, D.C., 1946); files relating to a 1964 Carnegie Hall memorial for W.E.B. Dubois, and for other projects relating to Du Bois's commemoration; and galleys and other materials relating to the disputes of Freda Diamond and Paul Robeson Jr. with Martin Duberman regarding his biography, Paul Robeson.