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constructed.

In line with the purpose of the meeting, participants were carefully selected
so that the strongest proponents of the various trends of thought and practice were
present. Among those in attendance were Abram Harris, Ralph Bunche, E.
Franklin Frazier, Charles Houston, Sterling Brown, Ira De A. Reid, and other
soon-to-be luminaries of the movement. W.E.B. DuBois, Walter White, and Roy
Wilkins represented the NAACP establishment. Only a few whites were present

for short periods as observers, including Spingarn himself, his wife, longtime

71
NAACP leader Mary White Ovington, and Mr. and Mrs. Lewis Mumford.'*

By accounts, the discussion at the conference was wide ranging. For many
participants, such as Charles Houston, the conference did not live up to
expectations and its conclusions fell far short of a new program. Juanita Jackson
Mitchell later remembered, however, that she found the conference extremely
stimulating. While no unanimity was achieved, certain themes were central to the
conference dialogue. One was the broad agreement on the necessity of action
around economic questions; also, there was open questioning about whether a
system based on private ownership and private profit could ever produce social
equality for Black people. Another theme was the necessity of organizing the Black
working class and struggling for unity with white workers. A third was a rejection
by most participants of Communism as too Utopian; for many at the conference,
"reformed democracy" was the only realistic path. These three themes, among
many others, tended toward the kind of viewpoint also being developed by more
militant, anti-racist democratic socialists, such as those based in the PUL. Juanita

Mitchell believed that the Amenia conference influenced her greatly; it probably

*ry
influenced her in these directions. '*•

Another important political experience outside of the Baltimore arena for
Juanita Jackson was her reconnection, shortly after the Amenia Conference, with