Persona non-grata: Judge Jane Matilda Bolin and the NAACP, 1930-1950

(9) See Emma Bugbee, "Justice Jane M. Bolin Shuns Glib Diagnoses of Child Crime," New York Herald Tribune 18 April, 1943.

(10) NAACP Branch Files, New York Folder.

(11) Bolin to Arthur Spingarn, 9 March 1950, Box 3, Bolin Papers.

(12) Ibid. Also see Joanne Grant, Ella Baker: Freedom Bound (New York: John Wiley & Sons, Inc., 1998), especially Chapters 3, 4 and 5.

(13) Ibid.

(14) Memorandum to Nominating Committee, 29 December 1943, Board of Director folder, NAACP Papers.

(15) Ibid.

(16) Roy Wilkins to Hubert Delany, 18 November 1949, NAACP Branch Files, New York Folder, NAACP Papers.

(17) The matter of the independent petition to re-nominate Bolin will be addressed later in the article, but suffice it to say at this point that Roy Wilkins was wholly against Bolin's re-nomination. Hubert Delany to Roy Wilkins, 9 November 1949, NAACP Branch Files, New York Folder.

(18) Ibid.

(19) Christopher Robert Reed, The Chicago NAACP and the Rise of Black Professional Leadership, 1910-1966 (Bloomington, Indiana: Indiana University Press, 1997), 68.

(20) Bolin to Arthur Spingarn, 9 March 1950, NAACP Branch Files.

(21) Ibid.; Delany to Wilkins, 9 November 1949, NAACP Branch Files.

(22) Wilkins to Delany, 18 November 1949, NAACP Branch Files.

(23) Bolin to Spingarn, 9 March 1950, Box 3, Bolin Papers.

(24) J. L. Leach to L. H. Richardson, 6 December 1949, NAACP Branch Files. Mr. Leach was the Chairman of the Nominating Committee which voted not to re-nominate Judge Bolin, and Mr. Richardson was president of the West Virginia Branch. At the September 29th meeting three members voted for Bolin's re-nomination and three voted against it, with the Chairman breaking the tie against re-nomination.

(25) Alfred Baker Lewis to L. H. Richardson, 2, December 1949, NAACP Branch Files.

(26) Nominating Committee to Branch Officers, 14 November 1949, NAACP Branch Files.

(27) Ibid.

(28) Leach to Richardson, 6 December 1949.

(29) The Afro-American, 8 October 1949, pages 1 and 2, Clipping File, Box 3, Bolin Papers.

(30) Ibid.

(31) Ibid.

(32) Minutes of Board of Directors Meeting, 10 October, 1949, NAACP Board of Directors Files, Jane Bolin Folder, NAACP Papers.

(33) Ibid. In obvious reference to the treatment of DuBois for his statements to the press in his capacity as editor.

(34) Ibid.

(35) Ibid. She was no doubt referring to the most recent incident surrounding the selection of Roy Wilkins as acting executive secretary, which was released to the press days before the Board meeting when such selection was scheduled to be made.

(36) Minutes of Meeting of the Board of Directors, 14 November 1949, NAACP Board of Director Files, Jane Bolin Folder, NAACP Papers. It is interesting that Wilkins was now willing to consider the effects of bad Board publicity on the operations of the Association, branch and national office, when not too long ago he dismissed similar concerns raised by the New York Branch.

(37) Board of Directors Meeting, 10 October 1949, NAACP Board of Director File, Jane Bolin Folder, NAACP Papers.