The Vanguard League records are available on microfilm with most of the records also available in paper form. Correspondence in the records demonstrates the league's chief concern--the protest of discrimination in the Columbus area. There are many letters exchanged with manufacturers, businessmen, and other employers. There are letters to the War Manpower Commission, to prospective speakers for the frequent Negro meetings arranged by the League, and to school administrators concerning the integration of teachers in the Columbus school system. The League made a study of the school system in 1943-1944, and published a pamphlet, Which September?, under the direction of its Education Committee.
In the early 1940's, in the period before other organizations such as CORE became so influential, the Vanguard League served as an area “watchdog” of African-American rights. An item in the correspondence indicates the struggle the little group had; in 1964 they evidently held a “reunion” and at that time received the following telegram from Jeanne Nichols in Alaska: “To Izzy, Frank and Vanguard Leaguers. Wish I could be with you. We can glow with pride in the knowledge that it was our generation unsung and unpublicized that made the holes in the dykes through which are rushing the mighty torrents of Freedom Now.”
In addition to the correspondence, the papers contain the constitution of both the League and the Junior group; minutes from 1941 to 1950 and minutes of various committees; affidavits of African-American workers; and publications distributed by the Vanguard League, such as cards, circulars, broadsides, and handouts. Three miscellaneous items are described in the contents list below.
The contents list below describes first the materials received in 1967, then additions received in 1972, then additions received in 1975.
