Claude M. Lightfoot
papers [manuscript], 1950-1985, n.d. (bulk 1969-1985)
Descriptive
Inventory for the Collection at Chicago History Museum, Research Center
By Nancy L. Webster, 1994; rev.
2008.
Please
address questions to:
Chicago
History Museum, Research Center
1601
North Clark Street
Chicago,
IL 60614-6038
Web-site:
www.chicagohistory.org/research
©
Copyright 2008, Chicago Historical Society, 1601 North Clark St., Chicago, IL
60614-6038
This collection was
processed with assistance of a grant from U.S. Department of Education, Title
II-C Program, 1993-1994.
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Main entry: Lightfoot, Claude M., 1910-1991
Title: Claude M. Lightfoot papers
[manuscript], 1950-1985, n.d. (bulk 1969-1985)
Inclusive Dates: 1950-1985, n.d. (bulk 1969-1985)
Extent: 1.5 linear ft. (3 boxes)
8 sound cassettes.
Restrictions: For listening purposes, it is
necessary to use a copy, not the original (and to have a listening copy made if
one is not available).
Provenance statement: The Claude M. Lightfoot papers
were donated to Chicago Historical Society by Dr. Lightfoot on 10 June 1986.
This
descriptive inventory includes:
Brief biography,
Description of the collection,
Description of some related
material,
List of online catalog headings,
Container list
of box and folder numbers and titles.
Brief biography:
Claude
M. Lightfoot was a prominent African American official in the Communist Party
(CPUSA). He was highly visible and active on local, national and international
levels and often represented the CPUSA in Eastern European and other Communist
countries. Lightfoot was politically active from his teen years until his death
in 1991. Born in Lake Village, Arkansas in 1910, Lightfoot was reared by his
grandmother until 1918 when the Lightfoot family moved
to Chicago as part of the Great Migration of southern African Americans to the
North. The Chicago Race Riots of 1919 stirred Lightfoot's interest in issues of
politics and racial equality. He joined
the Marcus Garvey’s movement; but soon became convinced the ideology was
unworkable.
In
the 1920s Lightfoot joined the Democratic Party. He became a member of the
Speaker's Bureau of the Chicago Democratic Party and helped to found the Young
Men's Black Democratic Club in Chicago (1930).
Party leaders considered him a young man of great promise. Lightfoot
also attended Virginia Union University for a short time--until it was discovered
that he did not have a high school diploma. He returned to Chicago in 1929
convinced that the answer to the plight of African Americans would be found in
business enterprise. However, the Great
Depression and the lack of progress and action regarding Blacks' financial and
political plight convinced Lightfoot otherwise.
In
1931 Lightfoot joined the CPUSA. In the summer of 1932 he attended (Communist)
Party Training School and the same year Lightfoot received 33,000 votes in a
race for Illinois State Legislature on the Communist Party ticket. By 1935 Lightfoot was a delegate to the
Seventh World Congress
of the Communist International in the Soviet Union.
Lightfoot
enlisted in the U.S. Army in 1941. The prejudiced treatment of both Communist
and Black soldiers by the U.S. Army deepened Lightfoot's belief in socialist
government. He resumed his CPUSA activities upon his return from the war three
years later. In 1946 Lightfoot prepared
to run for the Illinois State Senate on the CPUSA ticket; however, his petition
was successfully challenged, however, by the Democratic Party. The Cold War had
begun. Lightfoot ran a write-in campaign against the advice of the CPUSA's
Illinois leadership: over one-thousand votes were officially cast for Lightfoot
(he contended that many votes were not counted by the election judges).
On
June 26, 1954, Lightfoot was arrested on the basis of a secret indictment
returned by a federal grand jury in May. He was charged with membership in the
Communist Party and knowledge of the Party's objectives "to teach and
advocate the overthrow of the government of the United States by force and
violence as speedily as circumstances would permit" as specified in the
Membership Clause of the Smith Act of 1946. This was the first indictment under
this clause of the Smith Act. The
Lightfoot case was a test case for both the defense and prosecution. Lightfoot was Executive Secretary of the
Communist Party of Illinois at the time of his indictment and he believed that
the U.S. government targeted him in order to send a message to Black Americans
to stay away from the Communists (and from civil rights activities in general).
The
Lightfoot case was appealed all the way to the U.S. Supreme Court, where
Lightfoot was acquitted in 1964. 1964
was also the year that the provision of the McCarren Act that withheld
passports to CPUSA members was struck down by the U.S. Supreme Court.
From
1964 until his death in 1991 Lightfoot worked for the CPUSA as a party officer
and sought to advancement of socialist and Communist Marxist-Leninist
ideals. He wrote many books and articles
about racism and communism. Lightfoot
also traveled and lectured regarding these subjects throughout the world.
Lightfoot
was honored for his activities in the United States and abroad (but mostly in
Eastern Europe and the Soviet Union). In
1973 he received an honorary doctorate from the Universität Rostock for his
book, Racism and Human Survival: Lessons
of Nazi Germany for Today's World.
Others who honored him included W.E.B. DuBois Clubs of America and the
Bulgarian and Soviet Communist parties.
Lightfoot
married Geraldyne Gray in 1938. She also
became an organizer for the CPUSA. They adopted a son Earl (ca. 1955) who was
disabled. Geraldyne Lightfoot,
undoubtedly the love of Lightfoot's life, died of cancer in 1962. Lightfoot remarried in 1965. His new wife Joyce was also active in the
CPUSA. Details about Lightfoot's personal life are sketchy after 1969. There are references to Joyce up to 1980;
however, there are also references to a wife named Carole in the early
1970s. Lightfoot adopted a daughter
named Tanya in the 1960s. In 1973 he moved to Gary, Indiana where he resided
(when not traveling) until his death in 1991.
Lightfoot's
life, personal and professional, is chronicled in his autobiography, Chicago Slums to World Politics:
Autobiography of Claude M. Lightfoot (CHM library call number F548.26 L515
1986).
Description of the collection:
Correspondence,
speech and manuscript notes and drafts, publicity information, reviews of his
books, and news clippings, drafts and copies of Lightfoot's newspaper columns
in the Chicago Courier, award
certificates, and other papers of Claude M. Lightfoot, an African American
author, Chicago resident, political candidate, and member of the Communist
Party U.S.A.'s national committee. Topics are court actions against him
relating to his Communist affiliation; his political activities as an advocate
for racial and political equality; and his views, stated in speeches that he
presented on U.S. campuses and in Eastern Europe, advocating a Marxist path for
Black liberation. Sound recordings include speeches by and about Lightfoot.
The
collection is divided into three series:
Series
1: Topical file, 1969-1981
Series
2: Publications, 1950-1977
Series
3: Sound Recordings, 1974-1979 (8 audio cassette tapes)(0MM.190)
Series 1: Topical file, 1969-1982
(Box 1)
This
series includes material by and about Lightfoot. It consists of speech and
manuscript notes and drafts, publicity information, drafts and copies of his
newspaper columns in the Chicago Courier,
clippings, one folder of incoming correspondence, and other miscellany
regarding Lightfoot's activities and writings. This series is arranged by
topic.
Series 2: Publications, 1950-1981
(Boxes 2-3)
This
series contains journal articles, pamphlets, monographs and speeches by
Lightfoot. These writings document both the views and scope of Lightfoot’s
beliefs and as well his activities. The
series is arranged alphabetically by title.
Series 3: Sound recordings,
1974-1979 (8 cassettes)(0MM.190)
This
series consists of recordings of lectures by and about Lightfoot regarding
Marxism and racism and African Americans in American and world politics. This series is arranged chronologically.
Description of some related
material:
Related
materials at Chicago History Museum, Research Center, include documents from
Lightfoot's prosecution under the Smith Act, including records of the Lightfoot
Defense Committee, that are located in the Chicago
Committee to Defend the Bill of Rights records. Also at the Research Center are
the Claude M. Lightfoot collection of visual materials (1986.0823); and several
items by and about Lightfoot in the library. A medal from the Soviet Union is
in Decorative and Industrial Arts.
List of online catalog headings:
Subjects:
Lightfoot,
Claude M., 1910-1991.
Communist
Party of the United States of America
African
American authors--Illinois--Chicago--20th century.
African American politicians--Illinois--Chicago--20th
century.
African American communists--20th
century.
African
Americans--Civil rights
Authors, American--Illinois--Chicago--20th
century.
Blacks--Race
identity
Communism--United
States--20th century.
Communist trials--20th century.
Internal security--United States--20th
century.
United
States--Illinois--Cook County--Chicago.
Form/genre
Articles.
Audio cassettes.
Manuscripts (for publication).
Periodicals.
Speeches.
Added
entries:
Communist
Party of the United States of America
Political affairs (Periodical).
Container list of box and folder
numbers and titles:
Series 1: Topical file, 1969-1982
(Box 1)
Box
1
Folders:
1 "Black liberation in a Socialist,
Asian and African Perspective" lecture, Fisk University 1969
2 "Black
power and independence"--commentary, n.d.
3 "Black
power, labor power"--commentary, n.d.
4 "Black
power and related matters"--notes, n.d.
5 "Black
power and related matters"--notes, n.d.
6 Boston visit, ca 1977
7 Clippings regarding Lightfoot's
activities, 1969-1978, 1985, n.d.
8 Chicago
Courier--Lightfoot column, 1975-1976, ca. 1976
9 Communist Party USA--Citation, 1981
10 Correspondence--incoming,
1970-1982, n.d.
11 Ghetto
rebellion to Black liberation--publicity, ca. 1973
12 Honorary PhD from Universität
Rostock--commentary and speeches, 1973
13 "Human rights U.S style: from the New
Deal until today...V.II--manuscript, ca. 1977
14 "Human rights U.S style: VII:
struggle for a people's government, 1928-1980"--unpublished manuscript by
Joyce and Claude Lightfoot, ca. 1980
15 "Human rights U.S
style"--publicity, 1978
16 "Human rights U.S
style"--review by William L. Patterson, 1978
17 Invitations, 1972, 1974
18 Lightfoot/Jones family reunion--program,
1981
19 North American Section of the
International Commission on Racism--conference schedule, 1972
20 Ostee-Zeitung,
interview with, 1973
21 Racism
and human survival--publicity, ca. 1972
22 Racism and human survival--reviews, 1972
23 "Salute to Black history honoring
Dr. Claude [M.] Lightfoot", Feb. 11, 1979 program, publicity, & press
release, 1978-1979 (see also cassettes 6&7)
26 "Session on power"--commentary and notes, n.d.
27 "Shame of America: the nation takes
a look at human rights" Antioch College, Mar. 23-26, 1978
28 Speaking engagement--arrangement, 1976
29 Speaking engagements--publicity and
texts, 1978-1979, n.d.
30-31 "Strategy and tactics for Black
liberation" (Op-ed column, Chicago
Courier--drafts and correspondence, ca. 1976
32 W.E.B. DuBois Award Reception, ca. 1973
Series
2. Publications, 1950-1977 (Boxes
2-3)
Box
2
1 "An American looks at Russia: can
we live together in peace?" 1950
2 "Black America and the World
Revolution" 1970
3 "Black power and liberation"
1967
4 "Black power to working class
power" in Political affairs Oct.
1970
5 "Centrality of the struggle for
Black liberation" in Political
affairs (reprint) Sept. 1977
6 "The Civil War and Black
liberation today" Political affairs
Jan. 1969
7 "The Civil War and Black
liberation today" in Political
affairs (reprint) Jan. 1969
8 "Education against racism in the
GDR" in Political affairs Feb.
1972
9 "The Effect of education on
racism: the two German states and the USA" 1973
10 "Four score years in freedoms
fight" 1971
11 Ghetto
rebellion to Black liberation 1968
12 Ghetto
rebellion to Black liberation (Hungarian? translation) 1969
13 Ghetto
rebellion to Black liberation (Russian translation) 1972
14 Human rights U.S. style: from colonial
times through the New Deal" 1977
15 Der
Kampf für die Befreiung der Afroamerikaner 1973
16 "Leadership quality and the draft
program perspectives" in Political
affairs June 1954
Box
3
1 "Negro liberation: a goal for all
Americans" 1964
2 "The Negro liberation movement in
1961" in Political affairs, Feb.
1961
3 Pamphlet on education against racism
1973
4 O
Poder negro em revolta 1969
5-6 Proceedings
of the Seventh Congress of the Communist Party of India: VII: Greetings,
Bombay, 13-23 December 1964 (with speech by Lightfoot)
7 Racism
and human survival: lessons of Nazi Germany for today's world 1972
8 "Racism in U.S school
textbooks" in Political affairs
June 1973
9 "Turning point in freedom road:
the fight to end jim crow now" 1962
10 "U.S. racist policies in today's
world": Report presented at a meeting of the World Peace Council's
Commission on Racism, held in Brussels on May 29-30, 1972
11 "USSR and USA: A contrast" in Political affairs Dec. 1972
12 "We charge genocide" in Political affairs Feb. 1971
Series
3. Sound recordings, 1971-1979 (8 cassettes)
Restriction: For listening
purposes, it is necessary to use a copy, not the original (and to have a
listening copy made if one is not available).
1 Celebration of publication of book, Racism and human survival, by Claude M.
Lightfoot (Chicago, IL) January 1971
2 "Lightfoot mtg. III: Claude's
Speech" 1973
3 Lecture (Miami, FL) 1974
4 "Human rights U.S. style"/?
College (Milwaukee, WI) 1976
5 Blacks Unite Fund (Boston) 1978
6 Salute to Black history honoring Dr.
Claude [M.] Lightfoot, Feb. 11, 1979 (1)
7 Salute to Black history honoring Dr.
Claude [M.] Lightfoot: his speech, Feb. 11, 1979 (2)
8 "Black
Capitalism or Socialism?"