A Collection in
Special Collections Research Center Accession Number COLLECTION NUMBER
George Mason University. Libraries. Special Collections Research Center
Fenwick Library, MS2FL 4400 University Dr. Fairfax, Virginia 22030 Business Number: 703-993-2220 Fax Number: 703-993-8911 speccoll@gmu.edu URL: https://scrc.gmu.edu
FINDING AID AUTHOR
Repository
George Mason University. Libraries. Special Collections Research Center
This collection contains meeting minutes and grant proposals from the National Association for the Advancement of Colored
People (NAACP) as well as correspondence on civil rights and race relations between senators and NAACP members. Many of the
materials deal with the Fair Employment Practices Commission (FEPC), issued by Franklin Roosevelt in 1941 as executive order
8802.
There are no restrictions on personal use. Permission to publish material from the Philip Levy civil rights collection must
be obtained from Special Collections Research Center, George Mason University Libraries.
Access Restrictions
There are no access restrictions.
Preferred Citation
Philip Levy civil rights collection, C0121, Special Collections Research Center, George Mason University Libraries.
Acquisition Information
Collection donor unknown.
Processing Information
Processed by Special Collections Research Center staff. EAD markup completed by Eron Ackerman and Jordan Patty in August 2009.
Box list created and EAD updated by Amanda Brent in 2017.
Philip Levy was a government official in several capacities, serving on the legal staff of the National Labor Relations Board
(NLRB) and as counsel to Senator Robert F. Wagner. Levy practiced private law in Washington, D.C. during a career that spanned
1934-1970. He was directly involved with the development of national labor policy in the United States in the 1930s and 1940s,
and maintained a continued interest in labor policy throughout his long career.
This collection contains meeting minutes and grant proposals from the National Association for the Advancement of Colored
People (NAACP) as well as correspondence on civil rights and race relations between senators and NAACP members. Many of the
materials deal with the Fair Employment Practices Commission (FEPC), issued by Franklin Roosevelt in 1941 as executive order
8802 partly in response to protests organized by A. Philip Randolph. The bill was blocked from federal legislation by the
conservative coalition in Congress, but five states passed their own FEPC bills: New York, New Jersey, Massachusetts, Connecticut
and Washington. Several documents represented in this collection come from Connecticut.
The materials in this collection include a 1948 letter on civil rights from President Harry Truman to the Congress; a 1949
statement of Irving M. Engel on behalf of the American Jewish Committee to the House Committee on Labor and the Education
Subcommittee on Discrimination in Employment; correspondence of Senator William Benton to Philip Levy, Walter White, and an
op-ed to the New York Times; a 70 page "Program for Progress in Race Relations" submitted in 1951 by William H. Hastie, Arthur
B. Spingarn, and Walter White on behalf of the NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund, Inc.; pamphlets from 1949 criticizing
the Fair Employment Practices Commission on the bases of reverse discrimination and biological inequality between and among
races; statements of Senator Herbert H. Lehman regarding civil rights, including an address to a Dinner of the American Civil
Liberties Union; 1951 meeting minutes of the NAACP; and letters from the NAACP's Legal Defense and Education Fund to the Ford
Foundation's Program Planning Division requesting support for research on unequal opportunities and world opinion on racial
discrimination in the United States. The collection also includes various newsclippings and articles about race relations
and civil rights during this time. Particular focus is paid to race relations in Washington, D.C.
Senator William Benton Correspondence and Federal Fair Employment Practice Act (FEPA) Speech Documents
1950-1952
Mixed Materials Box: 1 Folder: 2
Republican Party's Campaign Platform on Civil Rights
July-August 1952
Mixed Materials Box: 1 Folder: 3
Newspaper Clippings and Congressional Report on Closure/Cloture in Senate
August 1952
Mixed Materials Box: 1 Folder: 4
Civil Rights Legislation and FEPC Act in Connecticut Documents
1949-1950
Mixed Materials Box: 1 Folder: 5
"Connecticut State Inter-racial Commission-Highlights of the Annual Report"
1948-1949
Mixed Materials Box: 1 Folder: 6
Congressional Record,
June 1948
Mixed Materials Box: 1 Folder: 7
"Statement of Irving M. Engel on Behalf of the American Jewish Committee To the House Committee on Labor and Education Subcommittee
on Discrimination in Employment"