Autograph Note Signed by PATON, Alan - 1954

1954. Unbound. Printed Christmas card with an autograph note by the South African author Signed ("Alan") to noted African-American journalist and author Henry Lee Moon, with excellent content bearing on the struggle for equal rights. The note in full: "Dec 14, 1954 Dear Henry and Molly, Thank you Henry for the card from Germany. I have heard also from Walker & the Warings, & from the Cornwells in Charleston. I can't get enough news from the South, but am hoping that everything will be done quietly, & with a firm moderation. Here we have not yet started getting better, but our Liberal Party won another seat - making us 4! Christmas draws near, & I think of you both, with affectionate memories, and grateful ones too. Love from Alan." Accompanied by the original envelope addressed to Moon at NAACP headquarters in New York City. Paton, author of *Cry, the Beloved Country*, had set aside his promising literary career the previous year to involve himself full-time in anti-apartheid South African politics. Moon's cousin, Chester Himes, lived for a time with Henry Lee and Molly Moon, and used that experience to base his novel, *Pinktoes* on their life.