{"value"=>"<p>The Robeson correspondence file in this series consists mostly of brief handwritten notes and typed copies of replies to letters from Europe, Asia, Africa and the West Indies. In a typewritten letter to the editor of the <span class=\"title\">Amsterdam News</span>(12 Sept. 1955), <span class=\"persname\">Robeson</span> responded to its editorial upholding his right to travel but condemning his political views. In his reply, <span class=\"persname\">Robeson</span> underlined the constitutional gravity of the passport ban and upheld his right to speak out on Africa, the conditions of black people in the United States and the issue of peace. The foreign correspondence includes letters to the <span class=\"corpname\">State Department</span> protesting the illegality of the ban, and messages of support for <span class=\"persname\">Robeson</span>. Letters in several languages are signed by government officials from the socialist block, trade-union leaders in England, France and Australia, and individuals such as <span class=\"persname\">Rene Maran</span>, the negritude poet and author of <span class=\"title\">Batouala</span>(1922). Part of his correspondence is addressed to and answered by <span class=\"persname\">Maude Greene</span>, then coordinator of the passport committee.</p> <p>Other important letters can be found in the files of <span class=\"persname\">William Patterson</span> and <span class=\"persname\">W.E.B. Du Bois</span>. In a letter to an unidentified participant at the 1955 Bandung conference, an international conference of black and Asian leaders on colonialism and Third World Economic and cultural cooperation, <span class=\"persname\">Patterson</span> succinctly outlined the reasons for the persecution of <span class=\"persname\">Robeson</span> and some of the basic international issues involved: freedom and independence of the colonized people, equality of opportunity for black people in the United States and cultural exchange. Other correspondents in this series include <span class=\"persname\">Jean Laffitte</span>, Secretary of the<span class=\"corpname\"> World Peace Council</span>, <span class=\"persname\">Rockwell Kent</span>, an American author, and <span class=\"persname\">Llyod Brown</span>, a close associate of <span class=\"persname\">Robeson</span> and <span class=\"persname\">Patterson</span>. Although not voluminous, the Patterson correspondence is very informative and reveals his important contributions to the passport case, his close association with <span class=\"persname\">Robeson</span> and his involvement in civil rights activities.</p>"}