SCOUTING AND OUR BOYS

n.p.: [Boy Scouts of America], 1950. Very good plus.. Rare midcentury Boy Scouts promotional brochure advertising the benefits of scouting to an African American audience. This scarce BSA pamphlet extols the organization's effectiveness in producing of "men of Christian character," illustrating its claims with several photos of Black scout troops and scoutmasters, backed by testimonials from eminent Black civic and religious leaders: D.V. Jemison, president of the National Baptist Convention; Roy Wilkins of the NAACP; Lester B. Granger of the National Urban League; and C.C. Spaulding, president of North Carolina Mutual Life Insurance, then America's largest Black-owned business. At the time of printing, the BSA was officially opposed to discrimination but entirely comfortable with locally mandated troop segregation and exclusion of Black scouts from leadership roles, and would remain so until the NAACP — under the executive direction of the same Roy Wilkins quoted within — forced the issue in a 1974 lawsuit. OCLC locates just one holding of this publication. 6'' x 3.5''. Original tri-fold pamphlet. Cat. No. 4803 / 500001145. Illustrated with black and white photographs. Light edgewear and creasing, tiny scuff to front.