Scope and Content Note
The papers of Anna Arnold Hedgeman (1899-1990) span the years 1944-1952. The papers include correspondence from friends, family, and associates in educational reform or civil rights activities, newsletters from various organizations, reports, speeches, minutes of meetings, and newspaper clippings.
The largest and strongest part of the papers concerns the Fair Employment Practices Committee (FEPC). Franklin Roosevelt created the committee in 1941 in response to the threat of a protest march on Washington by African Americans led by A. Philip Randolph. The FEPC was authorized to investigate complaints of job discrimination based on race, color, creed, or national origin and to require antidiscrimination clauses in defense contracts. When the FEPC's wartime mandate expired, the National Council for a Permanent FEPC was formed to lobby Congress. Hedgeman served as executive secretary. The papers document Hedgeman's activities, grass-roots organizing efforts, lobbying strategies, and press reactions to this unsuccessful effort to create a postwar FEPC.