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was a part of this. Speaking of the Euel Lee campaign, Juanita Jackson Mitchell
remarked, The City-Wide Young People's Forum was a religious-oriented
organization, but we cooperated with the Communists." Former Forum activist
Eleanor Burrell emphasized the depth of Forum involvement in this campaign
when she remarked, with some underestimation of the CP's role, that Communists
"were the one who got the attorney, and we were the ones that got petitions."
Underestimation aside, Bun-ell's point is on the mark: the Forum mobilized on a
mass level to defend Euel Lee. Additionally, the Forum cooperated with the
Committee to Repeal the Maryland Jim Crow Law in its unsuccessful efforts in
1932 and 1933. Also, Forum members and supporters did door-to-door canvassing
during the voter registration campaign initiated by the Afro-American and led by an
ad hoc group called the Good Citizen's League during those same years.48

By March 1933 the Forum was shifting its focus more and more toward
protest activities and had gained enough confidence and experience to initiate its
own campaigns. "In an effort to open up avenues of employment for eligible
qualified youth," the Forum announced projects to win:

1.Permission to qualify for positions on the staff of the Enoch Powell Free
Public Library, a tax-supported institution.

2. Equitable distribution of positions in the public school system.

3. Increase in the number of colored Welfare Workers employed by the
Family Welfare Association. ^

The campaigns to open the library training programs and to employ Black social
workers took off rapidly. By April 19, over 6,000 signatures had been gathered to
support these campaigns, and the Forum sent a delegation led by its attorney,
W.A.C. Hughes, Jr., to the Board of Estimate to present the petitions. For the first
time, the Baltimore Sun and Evening Sun— papers highly skilled at ignoring Black
protest activities- took notice and published stories on the Forum's campaign.
Mayor Howard Jackson solemnly swore to study the issues, then quickly referred