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Social and Economic Problems of Negro Youth.” The leader of the seminar was Herbert M. Smith, dean of the School of Religion, Bishop College, Marshall, Texas, Participants in the seminar discussion were Harold Ro- land, School of Religion, Howard University, and James A. Cox, School of Religion, Virginia Union University, The Rev. C. E. Queen, pastor of the Leigh Street Meth- odist Church, also pronounced an invocation, At one sessiom of the Richmond conference, W, F. Richardson, of the National Association for the Ad- vancement of Colored People, presided. The NAACP national headquarters had a full-page advertisement in the souvenir program. The SNYC had a Communist affiliate know Association of Young Writers and Artists. The associa. tion was dedicated to “stimulating and encouraging in- dividual and group expression in the fields of art b Negro youth, increasing the means whereby the finest cultural contributions of Negro youth may be made available to the general public . . . " Toward this end, the association conducted an €ssay Contest on the sub- ject, “What is your interpretation of the novel ‘Free- dom Road’ by Howard Fast?” The secretary of the Association of Young Writers and Artists was Louis E, Burnham, Communist Party Negro leader who numbered among his later Communist activilies ap instructorship in the Jefferson School of Social Science and membership on the board of direc- tors of the Southern Conference Educational Fund. The honorary members of the Association of Young Writers and Artists read like a roster of distinguished fellow travelers, Among the honorary members were the following: Louis Adamic, Countee Cullen, W. EB, B. DuBois, Oscar Hammerstein, W. C. Handy, Langston Hughes, Canada Lee, Rayford W. Logan, Carey Mc- Williams, Dorothy Parker, Pearl Primus, and Kenneth Spencer. (Peaple’s Daily World, Oct. 2, 1944, p. 5) James W. Ford rushed back to Teport to the Central Committee of the Communist Party on the Richmond conference of the SNYC. (The Negro and the Demo- cratic Front, p. 113-119) His enthusiasm was unbound: ed. The Communist Party had made a new and deeper penetration into the South. William Z. Foster bas Tecently made the following glowing appraisal of the work and influence of the Southern Negro Youth Congress: Most important was the united front Southern Negro Youth Congress . . . Leaders in this organiza- tion were Edward Strong, James W. Ford, James Jackson, Henry Winston, Louis Burnham, and Esther Cooper ... In 1946, when it held its seventh conven- on ly the yui-or-tne-way Southern city of Columbia, South Carolina, 1,000 delegates were present... The S.N.Y.C. was the most imporiant movement ever conducted by Negro youth. It pioneered many of N as the 38 a ere, : i lace in developments now taking p 1 the constru clive be si People in American His- the Sovtn . . - (The fVegre «ew pee liquidated thern Negro Youth Congress was liq a tou8 The days a the People’s Front were over, at least for the time being. . Human Welfare Southern Conference for The first big penetration of the Communist Party into the South came with the launching | of the sone for Human Welfare in November . The isunching took place in Birmingham, Alabama, DO ie eas eases — = with the blessings of the White House. Eleanor Roose- On as fhe En ise. Mrs. Roosevelt, addressing the conference said: “The eyes of the world are upop us... The future of democracy rests with the Ba tor vs youth. Face the question with open minds an above al! make sure a thing is true before accepting it as true. On this alone can we stake our bopes for democracy (Report of Proceedings of the Southern Conference fo . 29 Co Ten AD, Ropevelt sent a jetter to the Birmingham conference, in which he said: “. . . if you steer 2 ye course and keep everlastingly at it, the South wi 8 be thankful for this day.” (ibid, p. 2) Paul Crouch, John Donovan, James Jackson, Robert F, Hall, and Don West—all Communist Party mem i —manipulated the conference from behind the scenes 7 William Z. Foster writes with unusual modesty: om munist influence was strong in the S.C.H.W. from the start and this was reflected in the advanced progr: an it adopted.” (The Negro People in American sistory, P oe k P. Gra- The first president of the SCHW was Fran! P. Gra ham, then president of the University of North boa a. Later presidents were John B. Thompson (of the ia i" lander Folk Schoo) seminar) and Clark Foreman nen director of the Communist-controlied Emergency en Liberties Committee). Throughout most of its on st ; ence, which extended down to 1948, James A. browski was administrator of the SCHW. Toe an lin_American Activities The House Commitiee on Un-American A i i iquidati f the SCHW. had something to do with the liquidation of the but the decisive factor in its demise was the switch from the wartime honeymoon of the Washington-Moscow axis to the Cold War. : Under date of March 29, 1944, the Dies Committee dubbed the SCHW a Communist front, and in a specia report of the Committee on Un-American Activities, dated June 12, 1947, the following indictment of the SCHW was made: a Careful examination of its official publication anc its activities will disclose that the conference is being 39