TABLE OF CONTENTS

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Descriptive Summary

Historical Note

Scope and Contents

Arrangement

Restrictions

Administrative Information

Related Material

Significant Subject Topics

Detailed Description of the Collection

Series 1: Executive Secretary Series, 1921-1975

Series 2: Board of Directors, Carroll Chronological Files Series, 1934-1970

Series 3: Subject Files Series, 1931-1975

Series 4: Publications Series, 1931-1971

Series 5: Photos and Ephemera Series, 1937-1970

Catholic Interracial Council of New York

An inventory of the Records of The Catholic Interracial Council of New York at The American Catholic History Research Center and University Archives

Mailing Address: The Catholic University of America, Washington, D.C. 20064

Telephone: 202-319-5065

Email: archives@mail.lib.cua.edu

URL: http://libraries.cua.edu/achrcua/index.html

Historical Note

Father John LaFarge formed the Catholic Interracial Council of New York (CICNY) in May of 1934. Prior to the creation of the CICNY, LaFarge had participated in a number of Catholic organizations that sought to advance African American equality in the Catholic Church and encourage the Catholic Church's presence in African American communities. He was chairmen of the executive board for the Cardinal Gibbons Institute, a school established in southern Maryland in 1924 for African American students. LaFarge was also active in the Federated Colored Catholics of the United States (FCC). Dr. Thomas Wyatt Turner formed the FCC in 1924 to support the Cardinal Gibbons Institute, encourage African American educational advancement, stimulate African American interest in the Catholic Church, and create a better relationship and understanding between African American Catholics and the Church. The FCC experienced a painful split at its 1932 convention over whether it should continue as an interracial organization, or become a racially separate African American organization that advanced African American interests in the Church. LaFarge argued that any organization that sought to encourage integration in the Catholic Church should not be segregated. The Gibbons Institute, mired in a number of personal and financial problems, closed in 1933. LaFarge thought that the problems in the FCC and the closing of the Gibbons Institute left a void in interracial Catholic activity. He formed the CICNY to fill that void.

The CICNY was a Catholic organization that functioned under the sanction of the Archdiocese of New York City. Catholic social teachings and American democracy formed its underlying principles. The CICNY sought to increase cooperation and understanding between African Americans and whites and advance the cause of social justice and equality for African Americans. LaFarge served as the CICNY's chaplain, primary theorist, and guiding light from its founding in 1934 until he retired in 1962. George Hunton, who had been the secretary of the executive council of the Cardinal Gibbons Institute, served as the CICNY's executive-secretary from its founding in 1934 until 1962. Hunton oversaw the daily business in the CICNY offices and served as the editor for its monthly journal, Interracial Review. Hunton and LaFarge, who for almost 30 years were unmistakably the prime movers and visible representatives of the CICNY, were joined by Gerard Carroll, long time chair of the CICNY Board of Directors, in making the CICNY a stable and active organization that, despite its regional name and jurisdiction, possessed a national reach and profile.

The CICNY served a number of secular and religious functions. It encouraged a spiritual reflection of interracial justice. The CICNY organized and participated regularly in interracial religious services and breakfasts that encouraged, celebrated, and sermonized the gospel of social justice in people's life and in the Catholic Church. LaFarge and the other priests active in the CICNY regularly grounded the CICNY's actions and philosophy in Catholic teachings. During the Hunton/LaFarge years, the CICNY also became active in a wide variety of social and political issues. Although organized as a local institution, the CICNY served as the defacto progressive wing of the Catholic Church on national racial matters and LaFarge and Hunton, at least through the middle of the 1950s, served as spokesmen for progressive Catholics on racial issues. The CICNY became active, for example, in the American Scottsboro Committee in the 1930s, the National Committee for a Permanent Fair Employment Practices Committee in the 1940s, and supported Civil Rights organizations like the NAACP and the Southern Christian Leadership Conference in the civil rights struggles of the 1950s. The CICNY devoted much of its resources and efforts to educate Catholics on racial issues, like those mentioned above, through the Interracial Review and in numerous meetings and conferences. The CICNY also regularly honored Catholic civil rights activists with a number of annual awards and celebrations, including the annual John A. Hoey Interracial Justice Award.

The CICNY model encouraged others in the Catholic Church to actively challenge racial norms that contradicted Church teachings. Similar Catholic interracial councils emerged in cities throughout the United States. By 1960 there were 43 CICs throughout the country. Although the leaders of CICs in different cities talked frequently, the local organizations were not linked by a formal hierarchical structure or to a central national organization. Because it was the first and because of its high profile, the CICNY served as the informal central national organization. But some CICs, such as the Catholic Interracial Council of Chicago, grew to have national prominence by mid-1950s, challenging the CICNY's position. As the 1950s closed, Hunton and Lafarge were still viewed as important racial pioneers, but also as aging men who had valiantly fought for a just cause, but who could no longer lead the CICNY. A movement to create a national interracial organization led to the creation of the National Catholic Conference of Interracial Justice (NCCIJ) in 1961. In 1962, the year after the creation of the NCCIJ, Hunton and LaFarge fittingly retired together.

As the LaFarge/Hunton era ended, the focus of CICNY activities changed from national to local New York City issues. Under the guidance of Hunton's successors, Dennis Clark (1962) and Arthur Wright (1963), the first African American to hold high office in the CICNY, the organization became involved in a variety of New York City housing and education issues. For example, it closely followed the bitter decentralization battle in schools located in the Ocean Hill/Brownsville districts and supported the continuation of open admission policies at City University of New York. The CICNY also monitored ongoing racial problems, such as job discrimination and housing conditions in poor neighborhoods in New York City.

The CICNY continued well into the 1990s, but had declined markedly in activity and importance by the late 1970s. The NCCIJ moved to the forefront as the national Catholic organization on race relations and the CICNY lost substantial foundation support, creating serious financial problems that forced the CICNY to drastically curtail its activities. For example, the Interracial Review, one of its more important undertakings since its founding, ceased publication in 1966, although it was revived in a much less ambitious format in the 1970s.

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Scope and Contents

The CICNY Records contains correspondence, pamphlets, meeting minutes, article drafts, reports, photographs, ephemera, and clippings that span 1921 to 1975. The materials from 1921 to 1933 relate to the Cardinal Gibbons Institute and the materials from 1934 to 1975 document CICNY offices and activities. The CICNY continued to function into the late 1990s, but the collection does not document its last 25 years. The collection consists of five series: Executive-Secretary Series; Board of Directors, Carroll Chronological Series; the Subject Files Series; Publications Series; and the Photos and Ephemera Series.

The Executive-Secretary Series is composed of the files of CICNY Executive-Secretaries, George Hunton and Arthur Wright. The George Hunton Subseries is primarily, but not exclusively, correspondence. It also includes clippings, article drafts, and occasional reports and pamphlets. he materials span 1921-1966, but are focused most heavily between 1934 and 1959. The 9.5 linear feet document Hunton's activities as the Executive-Secretary of CICNY from 1934 to 1962. For example, it includes correspondence with civil rights organizations like the NAACP, and materials related the March on Washington Movement in the 1940s. A good deal of the materials document his position as editor of the Interracial Review. It also includes records from his time as secretary of the Cardinal Gibbons Institute, 1921-1933, and materials related to his teaching at Fordham University. The Arthur Wright Subseries contains three linear feet of primarily correspondence. It also includes a small assortment of other records, such as CICNY Executive Committee and Executive Board meeting meetings, pamphlets and clippings. These records span 1959 to 1975, but are heavily concentrated in the 1963 to 1970 period.

The Board of Directors, Carroll Chronological Series spans 1934 to 1970 and is composed of the chronological files of Gerard Carroll, chair of the CICNY Board of Directors. These 3 linear feet of records includes correspondence, clippings, meeting minutes, press releases, financial records, and other official CICNY documents, such as by-laws and constitutions. This series documents the activities of the CICNY Board of Directors.

The Subject Files Series include materials from both the Hunton and Wright eras. The materials, which span 1931-1975, are focused on the 1963-1970 period, when Arthur Wright was executive secretary. This series contains a wide array of materials, including clippings, pamphlets, reports, conference materials, correspondence, and meeting minutes. The materials document the CICNY's interest in New York City issues in the 1960s, like education and housing, and its contact with New York City government offices, like the New York City Board of Education and the New York City Housing Board. Materials related to a large assortment of Civil Rights organizations and activities, such as the American Scottsboro Committee, the NAACP, and the NCCIJ, can be found in the Subject Files. It also documents the CICNY's public programs and awards ceremonies.

The Publications series is divided into the Journals Subseries and the Index Subseries. The Journals Subseries is composed of incomplete runs of The Chronicle (February 1931-September 1932) and the Interracial Review (October 1932-1971). The Index Subseries is comprised of title and author indexes for the Interracial Review that covers the 1934 to 1960 issues.

The Photos and Ephemera Series is divided into the Photos Subseries and the Ephemera and Oversized Subseries. The Photos Subseries contain one linear foot of photographs related to CICNY activities. The photos either appeared in the Interracial Review or were sent to the CICNY offices by other CICs or individual people. The photos include many interracial groups of people in church, at communion breakfasts organized by the CICNY, and at meetings of various related organizations. There are also a number of portraits of award recipients and others. The Ephemera and Oversized Subseries includes a few awards given by or to the CICNY, a number of oversized photographs, a poster, and draft material for the cover of the Interracial Review.

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Arrangement

The Records of The Catholic Interracial Council of New York consists of five series:

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Restrictions

Restrictions on Access

There are no access restrictions.

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Administrative Information

Acquisition Information

The Catholic Interracial Council of New York donated its records to the American Catholic History Research Center and University Archives in 1977.

Processing Information

Processing completed in July 2003 by Joseph Turrini. Data entry by Clint Tibbs and Joseph Turrini. EAD markup completed in March 2005 by Washington Research Library Consortium. Additional EAD markup completed in October 2005 by Jordan Patty.

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Related Material

At the American Catholic History Research Center and University Archives:

Haynes Lofton Papers

Norman C. McKenna Papers. (Prince George's CIC)

National Catholic Welfare Conference/U.S. Catholic Conference Records, Social Action Department

National Catholic Welfare Conference/U.S. Catholic Conference Records, Executive Department/Office of the General Secretary

Joseph Nichols Papers.

Celestine Joseph Nuesse Papers (Washington DC CIC)

At other Institutions:

Monsignor Daniel Cantwell Papers.Chicago Historical Society, Chicago, Illinois. (Chicago CIC)

Catholic Interracial Council of Pittsburgh, Archives Service Center, University of Pittsburgh. (Pittsburgh CIC)

Chicago Interracial Council Papers. Chicago Historical Society, Chicago, Illinois. (Chicago CIC)

The Harriet Franklin Papers, Center for African American History and Culture, Temple University, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Philadelphia CIC)

Rev. John LaFarge Papers (both accessions). Georgetown University, Washington, DC

Rev. Donald W. McIlvane papers, University of Notre Dame Archives. (Pittsburgh CIC)

Milwaukee Catholic Interracial Council, Special Collections and University Archives, Marquette University. (Milwaukee CIC)

National Association for the Advancement of Colored People Papers. Library of Congress, Manuscript Division, Washington, DC

National Catholic Conference for Interracial Justice, Special Collections and University Archives, Marquette University

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Significant Subject Topics

Organizations:

Persons:

Subjects:

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Detailed Description of the Collection