The Angelo Herndon Indictment
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Teaching Moments: the Angelo Herndon Indictment

Angelo Herndon was an African-American Communist leader and organizer of interracial protests in the American South. His court trial, which occurred one year after the Scottsboro Rape Trial, gained national attention and protest. Herndon was arrested in Atlanta, Georgia in 1932 for “attempting to incite insurrection” after numerous communist reading materials were found in his possession. Although he was convicted, his case provided material for writers including Langston Hughes and Ralph Ellison, as well as Herndon’s own autobiography published in 1937. Herndon was originally sentenced to 18-20 years in prison, but was released in 1934, due in part to the national attention his case received.

Mary Barker (MSS 528) became involved in the Herndon case and publicly spoke out against his indictment. A fellow labor organizer, Barker argued that Herndon was only trying to organize workers and should not be charged with any crime. She worried that the charges against Herndon, a Communist, could potentially impact the work of other labor organizers.

Additional Resources:

Other repositories/archival collections:
New York Public Library, Angelo Herndon portrait collection
New York Public Library, Angelo Herndon collection, 1934-1938

Books:
The Angelo Herndon case and southern justice. Martin, Charles. Baton Rouge: Louisiana State University Press, 1976.
Let Me Live. Herndon, Angelo. Random House: 1937.

 

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