Letter written March 15, 1956 by Edmund Orgill, mayor of Memphis, Tennessee by a Gordon Hollingsworth of Germantown, Tennessee, a Memphis suburb. In the letter Mayor Orgill thanks Hollingsworth for his previous letter, and explains that he will forward the donation to a local church auxiliary. Orgill emphasizes that he is not in favor of school integration. However, he does support "recognizing ability, and worth in the individual Negroes." Orgill feels that by doing so African Americans will be more likely to not break the laws, to support local governmental policies, and will put off integration of schools and parks in the courts. Although the 1954 United States Supreme Court decision Brown v. Board of Education outlawed segregation in public schools, in 1956 few if any Southern schools had begun integrating.

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Edmund Orgill Papers, Ms. 87, Memphis Public Library, Memphis, Tennessee

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