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oriented within their own movements and thereby less ecumenical. Again, given
the larger context, the moment for convergence had passed and divergence was
almost inevitable. Something was, nevertheless, lost: the only real opportunity for
substantial unity between, and interpenetration of significant elements of the
Baltimore workers' movement and Black freedom movement in the early 1930s.

In September 1935, the increasing inadequacy of the Forum as the
leadership center for the Baltimore movement, and the growing power of the
national connections of that movement were underlined with the announcement
that Juanita Jackson was joining the national staff of the NAACP. Her assignment
was to build a national NAACP youth movement. This appointment represented a
great triumph for Forum, but it was also further evidence of its imminent eclipse in
Baltimore. The triumph was that the national leadership of NAACP, Walter White
in particular, saw the Forum as a possible model for a nation-wide movement of
African American youth under the NAACP banner; extensive correspondence
between Carl Murphy and Walter White helped the latter arrive at this conclusion.
At that time, "the branches were resistance to developing youth groups because
they thought the Communists would get into the NAACP through the young
people," Juanita Jackson Mitcheil later remarked. With the founder and former
leader of the famous City-Wide Young People's Forum of Baltimore as the
national youth organizer, the hope was that the youth movement would take off and
some of the resistance of the branches would be overcome (as it turned out, in the
latter regard, it was an uphill battle).

Adding Jackson to the national office on a full-time basis was a major
commitment of resources; including Charles Houston, who was also slated to join
the national executive staff, this staff numbered only six people. Jackson's
induction was not without controversy. Houston, a good friend of Jackson's,
himself raised objections because he felt available icsources should be expended on