Civil rights activist and investigative journalist Jessica “Decca” Mitford abandoned her aristocratic family connections in order to elope with her second cousin, Esmond Romilly, a staunch supporter of the Communist Party. He was later killed while fighting in WWII. Mitford then married Robert “Bob” Treuhaft, a civil rights lawyer in Southern California who was also sympathetic to the Communist cause. Mitford matched his interests; at the time of this letter’s writing, she was working as Secretary of the Civil Rights Congress. Here, she addresses her mother, Lady Redesdale, one of the few family members with whom she reforged ties after the elopement. Below, Mitford discusses the Jerry Newson case in which evidence was forged to wrongly convict a black man of killing two pharmacists. The Supreme Court overturned the first conviction, and the case went through three hung juries. When asked whether the case would be prosecuted a fifth time, DA Frank Coakley said, “No, he knows he’s guilty, but we can’t prove it because these Communists have subverted justice.”
Oakland, April 29, 1950
Darling Muv,
Thank you so much for your very helpful work on our voyage to England…I really think it’s going to come off, we are so excited. Dinky gets all red in the face every time she thinks about it. Do find out if Emma & Boy are on speaking terms with her, she is dying to see them. Also do send us a list of the kind of presents to bring, things you can’t get in England. Is Nylon still in that category?
Bob & I have been frightfully busy working on a murder trial, one reason I haven’t answered your letters before this. He is defending an 18-year old Negro accused of shooting 2 people. I have been convinced since the beginning that it’s a frame-up—oh dear you don’t know what a frame-up means. Well, if noone knows who did a crime, sometimes the police decide to convince people that a certain individual did it although they have no evidence. This is particularly done to Negroes in this country. Very often the police manufacture evidence against the framed-up person, such as paying people to testify against the person, etc.).
So Bob is the defense lawyer and I am chief investigator in the case. The trial started last week, so far it is going rather well for us. The Civil Rights Congress (where I’ve been working since last September) has taken up the case & we’ve been getting out thousands of leaflets on it. A leaflet is a bit of paper telling about the case. You give them out on the streets or door to door. I don’t remember whether they have them in England.
The children are well. Nicholas is doing wonderfully in school, his teacher told me he is the most intelligent & inquiring child she has ever taught. I know you don’t think so but that’s because you couldn’t understand anything he said except O.K….
Love to Blor.
Notes: The children of the Duke of Devonshire, another British noble family, are referred to as “Emma and Boy.”
Mitford refers to her daughter, Constancia, as “Dinky.” Bob and Decca had a son of their own, also mentioned, named Nicholas.
From Decca: The Letters of Jessica Mitford. Edited by Peter Y. Sussman. New York: Alfred A. Knopf (2006) pp. 133.
FURTHER READING
Bob Treuhaft discussed the Jerry Newson case in an interview.
Christopher Hitchens interviewed Jessica Mitford regarding her views on America, racism, and the mortuary business at the NY Public Library.