Later he was appointed to public affairs for the Human Resources Administration under Mayor John Lindsay and acted as a spokesperson for his anti-poverty programs.
[1] In 1926, after completing his studies at Paul Quinn College, Campbell moved to Los Angeles to pursue a career as a performer in the entertainment industry.
[1] In June of that year, Campbell appeared in the Fats Waller musical revue Hot Chocolates, which featured a young Louis Armstrong in his Broadway debut.
Under Campbell's direction, the Rose McClendon Players helped establish the careers of several black artists, including Frederick O'Neal, Helen Martin, Edmund Cambridge, Loften Mitchell and Abram Hill.
Davis not only got the role (which led to his admission in Actors Equity), but he met his future wife Ruby Dee in the production.
[7] Other people who were involved with the Rose McClendon Players included Canada Lee, Dooley Wilson, Jane White, Austin Briggs-Hall, George Norford, Eugene Grisby and Fred Carter.
[6] This included the initial production of Hill's On Striver's Row before it premiered with the American Negro Theatre with Frederick O'Neal in the cast.
[1] About the time that the Rose McClendon Players closed in 1942, Campbell was chosen by the Army to produce Black USO camp shows.
[1][3] After the end of World War II, Campbell started his own talent agency, representing such clients as Ossie Davis and Ruby Dee.
This was highlighted by a media boycott, in which he demanded that blacks turn off their television sets on Saturday, February 26, 1955, to show their economic clout.
[10] He discussed his rationale for the media boycott in the Alexandra Isles documentary Scandalize My Name: Stories from the Blacklist, which was released after Campbell's death.
[1][3] In 1967, Campbell was appointed as assistant director of public affairs in the New York City Human Resources Administration under Mayor John Lindsay.
In 1968, Campbell expressed outrage at the newly formed Negro Ensemble Company because in their initial season, they lacked plays written by African-American playwrights but had just received a $450,000 grant from the Ford Foundation to help support such work.