Charles Edward Russell

Charles Edward Russell (September 25, 1860 – April 23, 1941) was an American journalist and politician. He started the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People with people including W. E. B. Du Bois, Ida B. Wells, Archibald Grimké, Henry Moskowitz, Mary White Ovington, Oswald Garrison Villard, William English Walling (the last son of a former slave-holding family), and Florence Kelley in 1909. For the rest of his life Russell worked on the board of directors. Russell also wrote 27 books. In 1928 he won a Pulitzer Prize for The American Orchestra and Theodore Thomas.

Early life

Charles Edward Russell was born in Davenport, Iowa on September 25, 1860. His father was a newspaper editor at the Davenport Gazette. Russell went to St. Johnsbury Academy for high school.

Career

Russell worked as a "muckraker". A muckraker was a journalist who reported about how capitalism was bad. In 1902, Russell's first book, Such Stuff as Dreams, was published. Russell joined the Socialist Party of America in 1908. He was a member until 1917. Russell was the Socialist candidate for Governor of New York in 1910 and 1912. He was a candidate for U.S. Senator from New York in 1914. Russell's memoir These Shifting Scenes was published in 1915. Russell acted in the 1917 movie The Fall of the Romanoffs. In 1928 Russell won the Pulitzer Prize for his biography The American Orchestra and Theodore Thomas. In 1933 Russell's second memoir Bare Hands and Stone Walls was published. Russell was an editorial writer for social democratic magazine The New Leader.

Personal life

Russell had one child, John Russell. Charles Edward Russell died on 23rd April 1941.

Charles Edward Russell Media

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  Russell as drawn by Art Young in 1912.

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  Charles Edward Russell with other members of the US diplomatic mission sent to Russia in 1917 by President Woodrow Wilson.

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  Accession Number: 1974:0056:1095*Maker: William M. Vander Weyde (American 1871–1929)*Title: Charles Edward Russell, Socialist*Date: ca. 1900*Medium: negative, gelatin on glass*Dimensions: 8.5 x 6.5 inches George Eastman House Collection