Conversation at Buffalo

by Helen Cody Baker, Survey Midmonthly, May, 1939 (Vol.75, Issue 5), 131-134.

“Conversation at Buffalo” is written in the form of a fictional conversation taking place at the National Conference on Social Work. Three delegates are waiting to vote on the time and place for the 1940 National Conference. They discuss the effects of segregation and racism on African American social workers.

In her introduction to this piece, Helen Cody Baker wrote,

The characters in this triologue are imaginary, too; but the points of view which they express are authentic…. I know that there are many other points of view which are not included, and beg that no reader will think this an attempt to say everything that should be said, or to arrive at any conclusion. It is merely an effort to begin saying publicly some of the things that we are all saying privately. We hope that it may lead to honest and open discussion of a subject which is important to us as social workers and citizens of the United States.

This work may also be read through the Internet Archive.