The South in 1926: A Joint Travel Diary              15

the next academic yeat Corliss Lamont did graduate work at Ox¬
ford and Charles Poletti studied at the University of Rome. They
became interested in the School of International Studies in Geneva,
whose sunuuer sessions attracted students from all over the world.
 

Charles Polerti (left) and Corliss Lamont as tiiey appeared in the
yearbook of the Harvard Class of 1924.

In his oral history memoir Poletti relates that, while discussing
America with his fellow students and lauding our democracy, he
was shocked to find that the foreigners were better informed than
he was on civil rights, and particularly on the condition of the
Negro population in his own country. They would not only quote
him "chapter and verse," but were also well armed with statistics.
After discussing this experience with Lamont, it became the main
stimulus that motivated them to undertake their "voyage of dis¬
covery" early in the summer of 1926.

The manuscript diary, which the travellers alternated in writ¬
ing, begins with visits to Passaic and Lodi, New- Jersey, where
there were serious strikes taking place in the local textile industry.