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1 pp. On House of Representatives stationery. Addressed to Charlotte Pomerantz, Editor, Marzani and Munsell, New York.

“Harlem’s beauty and its agony were never more lovingly portrayed than in ‘Harlem Stirs’. It was a pleasure to read about the latent power that was mobilized in the rent strikes and other historic protests. Harlem can become that greater community and that finer neighborhood of humanity if it can arouse its citizens to care.” For 25 years, Adam Clayton Powell (1908-1972) represented Harlem in Congress, noted for his political power, outspoken oratory and flamboyant lifestyle. Six months after he wrote this letter, the House of Representatives voted to “exclude” him from Congress for ethical violations – an action the US Supreme Court subsequently held unconstitutional. In this letter to an editor at a left-wing New York publishing house, Powell praises its just-published photographic essay on Harlem which showed “newly-aroused” residents organizing community projects and joining in campaigns against slumlords. One Black reviewer called the book “…an unpleasant and depressing reminder of the grim American reality…Harlem stirs out of its long night of apathy and despair and self-mockery... The backdrop looks hopeless, but there is hope. All that beauty and power comes through the gloom...” In this letter, Congressman Powell chose to emphasize the upbeat undercurrent of the book – a reflection of his “keep the faith, baby” buoyancy which for so many years made him a hero to the Harlem Black community.