William Pickens

Written to share his experiences and discuss the significance of education, The Heir of Slaves is told chronologically, detailing major events in Pickens' life. The autobiography recounts memories of his family, his schooling instructors who pushed him to succeed, and the ways in which Pickens was able to accomplish many things in his lifetime and make a name for himself. He describes the teasing of his classmates and how their ridicule motivated him to keep studying, his love for learning, and his determination to prove himself as an accomplished Black man. A major takeaway from Pickens' autobiography is that hard work and persistence pay off.

Pickens asserts in his 1918 article entitled The Kind of Democracy the Negro Race Expects that the word ‘democracy’ means different things to different people.[6] Pickens claims there are six ways to identify what democracy should mean. First is Democracy in Education, which allows equal training for both races, and makes a clear distinction of talent rather than skin color.[6] Second is Democracy in Industry, which justifies a reasonable wealth distribution measured by output and efficiency.[6] Third is Democracy in State—a political system where all are governed by identical rules and policies.[6] Fourth is Democracy without Sex-preferment.[6] This democracy states there is no difference between race or sex in the freedom of people. Fifth is Democracy in Church, which calls for equality within the religion.[6] Lastly, Pickens states that one specific group or race should not have more access to public property or private liberties due to skin color.[6]

Pickens was fluent in and instructed several languages, including Latin, Greek, German, and Esperanto. He taught at his first alma mater, Talladega College, for ten years. [2] Then, in 1915, he began teaching at Wiley College.[2] He was also a professor of sociology and a college dean at Morgan State College.

In 1920, Pickens was an active and vocal member of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP). He served as an advocate in this organization for twenty-two years.[2] Pickens was initially considered for the position of field secretary by the association, but instead it was given to James Weldon Johnson in December 1916. On January 12, 1920, Pickens was given the opportunity for the position of assistant field secretary by the NAACP executive secretary, John R. Shillady. Pickens finished teaching for the academic year at Morgan College, while concurrently accepting the position, which provided a $3,000 salary. He also served as a director of branches, 1920–1940.[7]

On January 15, 1923, Pickens joined the eight people group and sent the “Garvey Must Go” letter to the U. S. Department of Justice due to Marcus Garvey's mismanagement of his organization. Feeling later that Garvey's sentence was excessive and racially motivated in August, 1927, Pickens wrote a letter to the New Republic that called for Garvey's release from prison.

Pickens once said, “Color had been made the mark of enslavement and was taken to be also the mark of inferiority; for prejudice does not reason, or it would not be prejudice… If prejudice could reason, it would dispel itself.”[8]

As a prominent NAACP activist, Pickens travelled widely in and beyond the US. In 1927, for instance, Pickens visited Europe. In Britain, he was hosted by Quakers. From Britain, he went to Germany, Poland, and the USSR. He stayed in the Soviet Union for two weeks and had a brief meeting with Leon Trotsky, who Pickens said 'showed intelligent interest in the American Negro'.[9] In 1936, Pickens travelled to Hawai'i and Central America.[10]

Despite tensions between the NAACP and the Communist Left, especially around the handling of the Scottsboro case, Pickens was affiliated with the political Left during the 1930s.[11] Though he remained firmly non-Communist, he supported numerous socialist-led campaigns. In 1934, Pickens endorsed the Socialist Party presidential candidate Norman Thomas.[12] He visited Spain in August 1938 amid the Civil War, and on return to the US he worked with the Spanish Aid Committee to raise funds for the Republican cause.[13] While Pickens played down his associations with the Left - notably during his interview with the anti-Communist House Un-American Activities Committee - he was associated with numerous organisations that were part of the Communist's 'popular front', including the International Labor Defense, the American League Against War and Fascism, and the American Committee for the Protection of the Foreign Born. Pickens also published writings in pro-Communist journals such as the "New Masses" and "Fight". In his essay 'The Fight Against Fascism', Pickens joined a chorus of Black anti-fascists who argued that the beginnings of fascism had long been evident in the US South.[14]

Pickens was the director of the interracial section of the Treasury Department's Saving Bonds Division from 1941 to 1950[15] where he was a travelling spokesperson for investing in WWII war bonds. In this role, he is said to have had more direct contact with the Negro masses than any other African American leaders in his time,[15] but also spoke to European-American and mixed audiences.[16]

His address "Misrule in Hayti" won him the Ten Eyck Prize for oratory, but he would renounce its ideas ten years later. The address led to a conflict between him, Monroe Trotter, and Booker T. Washington.[7]

Other published works include essays and speeches by the names of: "Abraham Lincoln, Man and Statesman" (1909), "The Heir of Slaves" (1911), "Frederick Douglass and the Spirit of Freedom" (1912), "Fifty Years of Emancipation" (1913), "The Ultimate Effects of Segregation and Discrimination" (1915), "The New Negro" (1916), "The Kind of Democracy the Negro Race Expects" (1918), "The Negro in the Light of the Great War" (1919), "The Vengeance of the Gods" (1922), and "American Aesop" (1926).[2]

On February 1, 1943, Pickens was one of the 39 men named by Martin Dies as affiliates of "Communist front organizations" and urged Congress to refuse "to appropriate money for their salaries."[17] An amendment was quickly offered to the Treasury and Post Office Appropriations Bill in the House Appropriations Committee to remove funding for the salary of these 39 government employees. After it was discovered that Pickens was the only employee that would be covered by the appropriations bill, the initial amendment failed and a separate action proceeded to withhold solely the salary of Pickens. A few days later it became known that Pickens was the only black person in the list of 39; the appearance of racism along with a public push to give the named men a "day in court" persuaded the committee to instead create a sub-committee (the Kerr Committee) to investigate the Dies allegations.[18] Pickens wrote to and met with people investigating the allegations.[19] The Kerr committee did not name Pickens as being subversive or unfit.[18]

In 1973, Yale created the William Pickens Prize, named after Pickens Sr. for his contributions to the university. The award is given by The Department of African American Studies to the top senior essayist.[20]

Four generations of the Pickens family have lived and summered in SANS, A traditionally black beach enclave in Sag Harbor's Eastville neighborhood. in 2004 William Pickens III moved there permanently from Queens to the family home in Sag Harbor Hills. A famous guest of the Pickens was Langston Hughes, Pickens Yale college roommate whom was a frequent guest in the 1950s. Pickens grandson is a patron of the Sag Harbor Bay Street Theatre[21]