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Contemporary Art of the American Negro 217 West 125th Street New York 27, N.Y. Jury of Selection Hale Woodruff, Chairman Richmond Barthe Romare Bearden James V. Herring February 18, 1947 Mr. Charles H. Alston 555 Edgecombe Avenue, Apt. 3E New York, New York Dear Mr. Alston: The formulation of a policy and plan of procedure to collect works by Negro artists of America for the International Business Machines Corporation's collection was recently discussed at a committee meeting assembled for this purpose. Matters pertaining to the purchase, exhibition and circulation of the works submitted were taken into consideration. Various aspects of the present status of the Negro artists in America were discussed, including the matter of all-Negro exhibitions which have been held in the past; the wisdom of continuing to hold all-Negro exhibitions, resulting in erroneous attitudes towards the Negro artists and hindering the acceptance of his works on a purely artistic basis. It was felt that, in the light of the Negro artist's present achievements in the general framework of American art today, there does not exist the necessity to continue all-Negro exhibits which tend to isolate him and segregate him from other American artists. It was the unanimous opinion of this committee that this project should be conducted in such a way as to prevent any suggestion of a segregated undertaking. Among the conclusions reached the following are noted: 1. That all works selected for purchase by the jury designated for this purpose be selected on a basis of artistic merit alone. 2. That these works be exhibited along with other works recently purchased by IBM without regard to the racial identity of the artists. 3. That the awarding of prizes to Negro artists alone would establish the implication of segregation and that, granted this, the Prize Awards as previously announced should be abolished since such prizes would be awarded on the basis of race.