Revels Cayton

Born in 1907 to Susie Revels Cayton and Horace Cayton, Sr., Revels Cayton was a civil rights leader in Seattle and California.[1][2] His grandfather was Hiram Revel, the first black senator in the United States.

Early life

He attended the University of Washington, but left early due to the Great Depression.[3] It was during his time at the University of Washington that he first was introduced to communism.[4] In the 1930s, the Communist Party's primary concerns included workers' rights and racial tensions.[4] In a letter to a friend, Revels stated, "in the beginning I was drawn to the Party because I believed that in a socialist system there would be no racism."[4]

Career and activism

Revels Cayton was particularly active in 1934; during that year he joined the Northwest District of the Communist Party, organized the Communist Party's Seattle chapter of the League of Struggle for Negro Rights, and participated in the 1934 West Coast waterfront strike in San Francisco.[1][3] In 1940 he filed a discrimination suit against a San Francisco restaurant that refused service to him, Paul Robeson, and five others.[2] From 1945-1947 he was the Executive Secretary of the National Negro Congress (NNC), under his leadership the NNC petitioned the UN Director-General to recognize the "denial of constitutional rights to 13,000,000 U.S. Negroes."[2][5]

In 1960 he was the first manager of St. Francis Square, a housing development in San Francisco built by the International Longshoremen's and Warehousemen's Union and the Pacific Maritime Association.[3] Later he became the deputy director of the San Francisco Housing Authority and deputy mayor for social programs.[3]

Revels Cayton died on Saturday, November 4, 1995, in San Francisco, California.[2]

References
  1. "Who's Who in Communist Party". depts.washington.edu. Retrieved 2019-03-01.
  2. "Revels Cayton (1907-1995) • BlackPast". BlackPast. 2007-02-12. Retrieved 2019-03-01.
  3. "OBITUARY -- Revels Cayton". SFGate. 1995-11-06. Retrieved 2019-03-01.
  4. "Revels Cayton: African American Communist and Labor Activist - Seattle Civil Rights and Labor History Project". depts.washington.edu. Retrieved 2019-03-01.
  5. "archives.nypl.org -- National Negro Congress records". archives.nypl.org. Retrieved 2019-03-01.

Richard S. Hobbs oral history interviews with Revels Cayton

National Negro Congress records, 1933-1947

Telegram from Revels Cayton and the National Nego Conference to W.E.B. Du Bois.

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