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James E. Jackson Audiotapes Collection

Call Number

OH.057

Date

1965-1994, undated, inclusive

Creator

Jackson, James E., 1914-2007 (Role: Donor)
Jackson, James E., 1914-2007
Jackson, Esther Cooper (Role: Donor)

Extent

3 Linear Feet in 12 boxes
373 audiocassettes

Language of Materials

Materials are in English

Abstract

James E. Jackson (1914-2007) was an African American communist and civil rights activist, best known for his role in founding and leading the Southern Negro Youth Congress (1937-1948). He was head of the Communist Party of the United States of America (CPUSA) Louisiana state organization in 1946, and was a Party organizer in the automobile industry in Detroit from 1947-50. He then moved to New York, becoming the Southern Director for the Communist Party. In 1951 he was indicted under the Smith Act (charged with advocating the overthrow of the government), and became a fugitive until 1955. He later served as the Communist Party's Educational Director and as International Affairs Secretary, retiring in 1991. The collection contains recordings of lectures and speeches given by Jackson, as well as talks by other Party leaders, including Gus Hall and Henry Winston. The collection dates from 1965 to 1994.

Biographical Note

James E. Jackson (1914-2007) was an African American communist and civil rights activist, best known for his role in founding and leading the Southern Negro Youth Congress (1937-1948). Raised in Richmond, Virginia, Jackson graduated from Virginia Union University in 1934, and at Howard University (the alma mater of his parents) graduated from the College of Pharmacy in 1937. He joined the Communist Party in 1931, and met his future wife Esther Cooper in 1939 (they married in 1941) when Jackson was staying at Fisk while working for Ralph Bunche as an investigator for what would become Gunnar Myrdal's An American Dilemma: The Negro Problem and Modern Democracy (1944).

The Southern Negro Youth Congress, a communist-led popular front organization, conceived at the first National Negro Congress in 1936, held its first annual conference, organized by James Jackson and Ed Strong, in Richmond, in February, 1937. Jackson played a leading role throughout the SNYC's first decade, as indicated by its letterhead from 1946, where Esther Cooper is the Executive Secretary, Jackson the Special Projects Director, and their fellow-communists and close friends Louis and Dorothy Burnham were, respectively, Organizational Secretary and Educational Director. In 1938 Jackson helped lead the successful organizing of the United Tobacco Stemmers and Laborers Union Local 279 in Richmond. In 1939 the SNYC moved is headquarters to Birmingham, Alabama, with its large concentration of African American industrial workers. Under is slogan "Freedom, Equality, Opportunity," the SNYC campaigned for the full range civil, economic, political, and social rights for African Americans. Activities and issues included, in addition to supporting labor organizing (including domestic workers), campaigns against lynching, police brutality and the poll tax, for the right to vote and an end to segregation, for an end to employment discrimination (sometimes via consumer boycotts), and during World War II, for enforcement of the U.S. Fair Employment Practices Committee's resolution 8802 barring discrimination in war industries. The SNYC also published the periodical Cavalcade: The March of Southern Youth, and supported educational and cultural activities, including "People's Theaters." The SNYC held its last conference in 1948, and the pressure of Cold War anti-communism led to its subsequent dissolution. However, SNYC members went on to play important roles in the civil rights movement of the 19650s-60s, including E.D. Nixon, and several became elected officials.

Jackson entered the army in 1943 and served in the Burma theatre for some eighteen months, attainting the rank of sergeant. In 1946 Jackson became State Chairman of the Communist Party of Louisiana. In 1947 the Jacksons moved to Detroit, where they shared a house with future Detroit mayor Coleman Young, and where James Jackson began work as a Party organizer among the autoworkers, while Esther Cooper Jackson was active in the local branches of the Progressive Party and of the Civil Rights Congress, another popular front organization. In 1951 the Jacksons moved to New York and James was named Southern Director of the Communist Party. Later that year he was indicted under the Smith Act (charged with advocating the overthrow of the U.S. government) and went underground to avoid arrest. Emerging five years later, Jackson was sentenced to prison, although he did not serve time as the Smith Act was declared unconstitutional by the Supreme Court.

Thereafter, James Jackson served as a full-time Party official, including as a member of its leading Political Bureau, and as Education Director and as International Affairs Secretary, in which capacity he traveled throughout the Communist countries and elsewhere. James Jackson retired in 1991, in the aftermath of the 1991 split in the CPUSA.

Arrangement

Collection is arranged into four series: Series I: Biography
Series II: Lectures and Speeches
Series III: Speeches by Others
Series IV: 7 inch reel of 1/4 inch-wide Recording Tapes

Scope and Contents

The James E. Jackson Audiotapes Collection includes 373 audio recordings of lectures and speeches, often of an educational nature, given by James E. Jackson, usually at Communist Party forums. There are also some 30 recordings of talks by other Party leaders, including Gus Hall and Henry Winston, a recording of an event celebrating Jackson's 60th birthday, and an interview with Jackson by his daughter, Kathy. The collection dates from 1965 to 1994.

Conditions Governing Access

Materials are open without restrictions.

Conditions Governing Use

Because of the assembled nature of this collection, copyright status varies across the collection. Copyright is assumed to be held by the original creator of individual items in the collection; these items are expected to pass into the public domain 120 years after their creation. Any rights (including copyright and related rights to publicity and privacy) held by James Jackson and Esther Cooper Jackson were transferred to New York University in 2005 by James Jackson and Esther Cooper Jackson. Permission to publish or reproduce materials in this collection must be secured from Tamiment Library and Robert F. Wagner Labor Archives. Please contact tamiment.wagner@nyu.edu.

Preferred Citation

Published citations should take the following form: Identification of item, date; James E. Jackson Audiotapes Collection; OH 057; box number; folder number; Tamiment Library/Robert F. Wagner Labor Archives, New York University.

Immediate Source of Acquisition

Donated by James Jackson and Esther Cooper Jackson in 2006.

Audiovisual Access Policies and Procedures

An access terminal for some audiovisual materials in the collection is available by appointment for reading room viewing and listening only. Most audiovisual materials have not been preserved and may not be available to researchers. Materials not yet digitized will need to have access copies made before they can be used. To request an access copy, or if you are unsure if an item has been digitized, please contact Tamiment Library & Robert F. Wagner Labor Archives, special.collections@nyu.edu, 212-998-2596 with the collection name, collection number, and a description of the item(s) requested. A staff member will respond to you with further information.

Collection processed by

Tamiment Staff

About this Guide

This finding aid was produced using ArchivesSpace on 2023-08-20 16:27:11 -0400.
Using Describing Archives: A Content Standard
Language: English

Processing Information

Decisions regarding arrangement, description, and physical interventions for this collection prior to 2021 are unknown. In May 2021, cassettes were moved from audio cabinet drawers into cassette boxes. New container numbers were created and cassettes were assigned to the appropriate top containers. Collection and series level notes were written for compliance with DACS and ACM Required Elements for Archival Description.

Revisions to this Guide

May 2021: Edited by Megan O’Shea for compliance with DACS and ACM Required Elements for Archival Description, and to reflect addition of box numbers to individual interviews

Note Statement

Finding aid created from inventory in James E. Jackson and Esther Cooper Jackson Papers (TAM 347), May 2012

Repository

Tamiment Library and Robert F. Wagner Labor Archives
Tamiment Library and Robert F. Wagner Labor Archives
Elmer Holmes Bobst Library
70 Washington Square South
2nd Floor
New York, NY 10012