Dear Mr. Nunn:
I have been a little slow in answering your letter of Oct 6 relative to Miss Mary Lou Williams. I have been studying the situation here in Atlanta and I have now come to the conclusion that it would be virtually impossible and certainly unwise right now for us to plan in Atlanta the kind of program Miss Williams suggested. Things are pretty tense right here in Atlanta now and some of us are working very carefully and quietly to avert what could become a major racial conflict here. There is an organization by the name of the “Columbians” that are doing things worse than the Ku Klux Klan. Although things seem to be under control, any thing can happen at anytime. It may be that later such a program as Miss Williams proposes would be quite in order.
I am returning Miss Williams’ letter, which you may want to keep. I am also suggesting that you may send her a copy of my letter if you think it is necessary.
With kindest regards and best wishes, I am
Yours truly,
Benjamin E. Mays
President
Benjamin E. Mays, president of Morehouse College, to Bill Nunn, managing editor of the Pittsburgh Courier, [November 6, 1946], copy sent to Mary Lou Williams, Mary Lou Williams Collection, MC 60, Series 6, Box 1, Folder 8, Institute of Jazz Studies Rutgers University, Newark, New Jersey.