This vintage 12 pound brass fire nozzle is stamped “BFD 23” to designate its use from the Birmingham, Alabama Fire Station #23. One of the most iconic and disturbing moments of the Civil Rights Movement was when the Commissioner of Public Safety, Bull Connor, ordered the Birmingham, Alabama Fire Department to use fire hoses on men, women, and children demonstrators. “Connor ordered the city’s fire hoses, set at a level that would peel bark off a tree or separate bricks from mortar, to be turned on the children. Boys’ shirts were ripped off, and young women were pushed over the tops of cars by the force of the water.
Civil Rights
1964 GEORGE WALLACE SIGNED LETTER RE CIVIL RIGHTS BILL
Civil RightsThis typed letter was SIGNED by the infamous segregationist Governor George C. Wallace on June 5, 1964, while Governor of the State of Alabama. In this anti-Civil Rights document, we such quotes as “…As you know I am currently running in Presidential Primaries throughout the country and already have received an overwhelming protest vote against the Civil Rights bill…I believe that the majority of the people of this country do not wish to see this bill passed…“
1950’s FUNDRAISING BROCHURE FOR MONTGOMERY BUS BOYCOTT “FREEDOM, THE SOUTH, AND NONVIOLENCE”
Civil RightsThis 1950’s pamphlet “Freedom, the South, and Nonviolence” was published by Fellowship of Reconciliation. It is a plea for funding to support those boycotting the buses in Montgomery, Alabama. It states, “In the immediate present, it has been demonstrated dramatically by thousands of Negroes in Montgomery, Alabama, as they have trudged the streets of that city, and organized a complicated system of carpools, rather than submit any longer to segregation on the city’s buses. India’s millions, led by Gandhi, and Montgomery’s thousands, led by twenty-six Negro clergymen, have demonstrated how nonviolent resistance operates at its best….Where such campaigns begin, send your own words of encouragement and support to its leaders. Let them know that you understand their goals and their methods, and that you are praying for their success. The knowledge that thousands of other Americans are with them can mean a great deal to men and women surrounded by hostility and
Signed Letter from Dr. W.G. Anderson, Leader of the Albany Movement
Civil RightsIn July 1962, Dr. W. G. Anderson attracted national attention with his performance on the television news show Meet the Press, where he successfully defended the movement to hostile white newsmen. Anderson was standing in for King, who was imprisoned at the time for his role in the Albany demonstrations. This letter from Anderson to Meet the Press producer and host Lawrence Spivak (written 45 days after the interview) reveals his thoughts about the historic television event. In it, he says, “This program gave to me the opportunity to tell to the world the plight of the American Negro in a manner that could only be told through searching interrogation.”
W. G. Anderson is famous for being the leader of the Albany Movement, a famous chapter of the Civil Rights Movement, where Dr. King suffered a rare public loss. This loss taught invaluable lessons that would contribute to the overwhelming success of the Birmingham Campaign….
1954 Mass Meeting Handbill NAACP
Civil RightsThis small handbill (6 1/4″ x 8 1/2″) advertises a mass meeting “In Protest of RACIAL DISCRIMINATION In Certain Montgomery County Schools” just 5 months after Brown v. Board of Education. It says, “Sponsored by the Montgomery County Citizens Action Committee, Rev. Joseph W. Jackson, Chairman. Cooperating Agency North Hills Branch – N.A.A.C.P.
Hear: Rev. Marshall L. Shepard, Raymond Pace Alexander, Gertrude Ely, Dr. Irwin Griggs, Dr. E. Luther Cunningham, Robert N. C. Nix, and others.
St. Charles Auditorium, Walnut and Moore Streets. Norristown, PA.
1957 Segregationist Letter to Gov. Faubus (Little Rock 9)
Civil Rights, SegregationThis segregationist letter to Arkansas Governor Orville Faubus protests the integration of Central High School in Little Rock with explicit instructions to the Governor. The author states that this is his second letter. “…The U.S.A. Government Army is in control of Little Rick Central High School...Your Arkansas State Attorney General should draw up a rental agreement and lease Little Rock Central High School at One Million Dollars a Month Rent. If the U.S.A. Government defaults on paying this rental, the Arkansas State Attorney General should serve the U.S.A. Government with a thirty day eviction notice…This will teach the U.S.A. Government that Eisenhower Crimes against Arkansas State Government does not pay…Might does not make right, as President Eisenhower declares with his Paratroopers at Little Rock without declaring Martial Law…Go to it Governor Faubus and make these U.S.A. Government un-American Cowards eat their own chosen and executed U.S.A. Constitution Defying and Human Beastiality Mess they have no one to blame for but themselves….one wonders whether his mental capacities are sufficient to discharge the duties of the President of the United States….These Paratroopers with planted bayonets are guilty of criminal intent and actions against Little Rick Civilians who were not even armed. Any Newspaper Editor who praises these Paratroopers Conduct at Little Rock…is an enemy of Our U.S.A. Constitution same as the paratroopers with their bayonets…So will Integration be ruled out when the dumb buck Negro realizes his U.S.A. Supreme Court Integration Order has no force of honest U.S.A. Constitution Law and Order…
1965 Dr. King and 270 Marchers Arrested (Selma)
Civil Rights, NewspapersThis February 1st, 1965 edition of the El Paso Herald-Post leads with the bold (all-caps) headline “DR. KING, 270 MARCHERS ARRESTED.” The sub-headline states “Negro Leader Later Freed; Re-Arrested.” This newspaper tells the story of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s arrest and re-arrest in Selma, Alabama after leading a large protest march for the right to vote….
1958 J.H. JACKSON (anti-civil rights) National Baptist Convention PIN
Civil RightsThe Civil Rights Movement of the 1950s and 1960s was highly controversial in many black churches, where the minister preached spiritual salvation rather than political activism. The National Baptist Convention became deeply split; J.H. Jackson, President of the National Baptist Convention, had supported the Montgomery bus boycott of 1956, but by 1960 he told his denomination they should not become involved in civil rights activism. Jackson’s vocal stance for “civil rights through law and order” went in direct opposition to the methods of civil disobedience advocated by King.
A group led by Gardner C. Taylor including Martin Luther King, Sr and Jr.; Ralph David
Signed Letter From Mary Peabody After Famed St. Augustine Arrest
Civil Rights, Segregation


Besides Albany, GA, St. Augustine, FL is probably the greatest unsung civil rights battlefield. Conspicuous among the civil rights legends from this amazing chapter of history, is 72-year-old Mary Peabody (“Grandmother Peabody”) who flew from Boston to St. Augustine in the last week of March of 1964 to participate in sit-ins which were famously volatile and often violent. As the mother of Massachusett’s Governor (Endicott Peabody), Mary Peabody’s unusual participation was a turning point that generated publicity and put an international spotlight on demonstrations in St. Augustine. Martin Luther King, Jr., sent a public telegram to then-Governor of Massachusetts stating, “I have been so deeply inspired by your mother’s creative witness in Florida.”
1941 & 1956 “WHITE SUPREMACY” DEMOCRATIC BALLOTS (with BULL CONNOR as candidate)
Civil Rights, RacismTwo Fayette County, Alabama Democratic ballots from 1941 and 1956. Note the logo of the chicken and the “WHITE SUPREMACY….FOR THE RIGHT” banner used by the Democratic Party at the time. The official overtly racist logo of the Alabama Democratic Party was adopted in 1904 and not replaced until 1966.
The 1956 ballot shows the notorious Eugene Bull Connor as candidate for “Delegate to National Democratic Convention”. Bull Connor famously used firehoses and police dogs on men, women, and children protesters during the famed Birmingham demonstrations of 1963.
Letter from Emmett Till’s Mother
Civil Rights, Of InterestOther than photos of my family, this is perhaps my most meaningful possession. When I learned of the murder of Emmett Till (which many historians cite as the unofficial beginning of the Civil Rights Movement), I was devastated in an unhealthy way. Even to this day, I have never stopped thinking about Emmett and the men who were never brought to justice…even though he was murdered many years before I was born. I poured-out my heart in a letter to his mother, Mamie Till-Mobley expressing the burden I had about her son’s death. In the letter, I committed to telling others about Emmett. Receiving this response from Mrs. Till-Mobley did more for me than words can express. She passed away in 2003.
“LITTLE ROCK NINE” INFAMOUS FRONT PAGE: ELIZABETH ECKFORD & HAZEL BRYAN MASSERY
Civil Rights, NewspapersCOMPLETE newspaper, the Dallas Morning News dated Sept 5, 1957. Front page headline and famous photo of Elizabeth Eckford and Hazel Bryan Massery. One of the most infamous photos of the Civil Rights Movement, it came to symbolize the vehement (and sometimes violent) rejection of integrated schooling by whites. Eckford was one of the “Little Rock Nine” who integrated Central High School in Little Rock, Arkansas after the President sent the 101st Airborne to escort the nine African American children into the school (after the Governor of Arkansas called out the Arkansas National Guard to prevent their entry). Click here to see autograph of Hazel Bryan Massery. Newspaper was
1965 ANTI-MARTIN LUTHER KING POSTCARD
Civil Rights, RacismThe heading of this postcard states “Martin Luther King at Communist Training school.” ON BACK: “Lower left, arms folded, is Abner W. Berry of the Central Communist Party. To King’s right, Aubrey Williams, pres. of the communist front SCEF, and Myles Horton, dir. Highlander Folk School for communist training at Monteagle, Tenn. Picture taken by secret counteragent during Red Workshop in race agitation.“
1955 TMR HOWARD SPEAKER AT NAACP CONFERENCE RE INTEGRATION (also speaking: Thurgood Marshall)
Civil RightsThis program was handed-out at the silver anniversary Oklahoma Conference of Branches, NAACP on November 17 and 18th 1955. The legendary T.M.R. Howard and Thurgood Marshall were the featured speakers. The theme was “INTEGRATION”.
Howard moved into the national limelight as never before after the murder of Emmett Till in August 1955 and the trial of his killers, J. W. Milam and Roy Bryant in September. He delivered “[o]ne of the earliest and loudest denunciations of Till’s murder,” saying that if “the slaughtering of Negroes is allowed to continue, Mississippi will have a civil war. Negroes are only going to take so much.” He was also heavily involved in the search for evidence and gave over his home to be a “black command center” for witnesses
RARE HAZEL BRYAN MASSERY AUTOGRAPH
Civil RightsI have never seen another Hazel Bryan Massery autograph. Massery was the infamous white teenager captured on the front page of newspapers around the world (click here to see original front page newspaper offered in this collection) on September 04, 1957 when she verbally assaulted Elizabeth Eckford, an African-American, who was trying to enter Central High School (an all-white school) in Little Rock, Arkansas.
1957 US ATTORNEY GEN’L SIGNED LETTER (ABOUT BOMBINGS) & ENVELOPE
Civil RightsThis is an extremely intriguing letter because of its reference to bombings. The letter from US Attorney General Herbert Brownell, Jr. is addressed to James E. Folsom, Governor of Alabama and is in response to the Governor’s letter to the President of the United States. The Governor was apparently asking for help from the Federal government, specifically, the FBI and Department of Justice. The 50’s and 60’s were a period of racial upheaval, with Montgomery, Alabama being a major focal point of the Civil Rights Movement.
3 Poll Tax Receipts 1923, 1928, and 1958
Civil Rights, SegregationIn U.S. practice, a poll tax was used as a de facto or implicit pre-condition of the exercise of the ability to vote. This tax emerged in some states of the United States in the late 19th century as part of the Jim Crow laws. After the ability to vote was extended to all races by the enactment of the Fifteenth Amendment, many Southern states enacted poll tax laws as a means of restricting black voters; such laws often included a grandfather clause, which allowed any adult male whose father or grandfather had voted in a specific year prior to the abolition of slavery to vote without paying the tax. These laws, along with unfairly implemented literacy tests and extra-legal intimidation, achieved the desired effect of disfranchising African-American and Native American voters, as well as poor whites.
King Leads Massive March, Selma 1965
Civil Rights, NewspapersThis complete March 22, 1965 edition of The El Paso Times features the bold headline “King Leads Massive March” about Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s historic march from Selma to Montgomery, Alabama…
Poll Tax Pin
Civil Rights, RacismIn U.S. practice, a poll tax was used as a de facto pre-condition of the exercise of the ability to vote. This tax emerged in some states of the United States in the late 19th century as part of the Jim Crow laws. After the ability to vote was extended to all races by the enactment of the Fifteenth Amendment, many Southern states enacted poll tax laws as a means of restricting black voters; such laws often included a grandfather clause, which allowed any adult male whose father or grandfather had voted in a specific year prior to the abolition of slavery to vote without paying the tax. These laws, along with unfairly implemented literacy tests and extra-legal intimidation, achieved the desired effect of disfranchising African-American and Native American voters, as well as poor whites.
1958 ARK. SEGREGATIONIST GOVERNOR ORVAL FAUBUS TLS (SIGNED)
Civil Rights, SegregationGovernor Orval E. Faubus was the Governor who called out the National Guard to block nine African-American children from entering Central High School in Little Rock, Arkansas. Typed Letter Signed as Governor, on colored State of Arkansas Letterhead, January 10, 1958. Faubus makes reference to the challenge of integration in the letter by stating (after referencing “Pledge to the South”) “I am most grateful for your thoughtfulness and understanding of our situation.” Boldly signed in black ink.
“White Mother Slain” Viola Liuzzo 1965
Civil Rights, NewspapersViola Liuzzo is the only white female martyr of the American Civil Rights Movement. In March of 1965, Liuzzo heeded the call of Martin Luther King Jr. and traveled from Detroit, Michigan, to Selma, Alabama, in the wake of the Bloody Sunday attempt at marching across the Edmund Pettus Bridge. Liuzzo participated in the successful Selma to Montgomery marches and helped with coordination and logistics. At the age of 39, while driving back from a trip shuttling fellow activists to the Montgomery airport, she was fatally hit by shots fired from a pursuing car containing Ku Klux Klan (KKK) members Collie Wilkins, William Eaton, Eugene Thomas, and Gary Thomas Rowe, the latter of whom was actually an undercover informant working for the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI). In addition
Central High School (Little Rock 9) Segregation Cards
Civil RightsIn an attempt to create as much chaos as possible, segregationists disseminated these cards to students at Central High School in Little Rock, Arkansas during the 1957-1958 school year. The poem refers to Daisy Bates, who was a mentor, advisor, and escort for the nine African-American students integrating Central High School. The poem also refers to Lamb, Tucker, and Matson who were school board members at the time.
A former classmate of Ernest Green (one of the Little Rock 9) acquired this card from the Couch Estate in Little Rock, Arkansas. He confirms that these cards were handed out throughout the school year to keep tension high.
KKK Magazine “Night Riders” about Viola Liuzzo murder
Civil Rights, RacismPossibly the most representative example of Klan propaganda, this may be the worst and most disgusting of the publications by the Klan/Citizens’ Councils. Exploiting the murder of Viola Liuzzo, (a true hero of the Civil Rights Movement) by putting her body on the cover of their Klan “Night Riders” magazine as a trophy of their murderous efforts is about as low as it gets.
Pin from the Historic 1963 March On Washington
Civil RightsThe March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom was held in Washington, D.C. on Wednesday, August 28, 1963. The purpose of the march was to advocate for the civil and economic rights of African Americans. At the march, Martin Luther King Jr., standing in front of the Lincoln Memorial, delivered his historic “I Have a Dream” speech in which he called for an end to racism.
The march was organized by A. Philip Randolph and Bayard Rustin, who built an alliance of civil rights, labor, and religious organizations that came together under the banner of “jobs and freedom.” Estimates of the number of participants varied from 200,000 to 300,000, but the most widely cited estimate is 250,000 people. Observers estimated that 75–80% of the marchers were black. The march was one of the largest political rallies for human rights in United States history.
The march is credited with helping to pass the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and preceded the Selma Voting Rights Movement which led to the passage of the Voting Rights Act of 1965.
[Information from Wikipedia]
1958 RARE INTEGRATION PAMPHLET (CORE)
Civil RightsA rare gem, “A First Step Toward School Integration” is a pamphlet from the Congress on Racial Equality (CORE). Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. states at the beginning of the Foreward, “Can the method of non-violence that erased the color line in Montgomery’s buses be applied effectively to schools? This pamphlet seeks an answer to that question, so urgent in southern communities where the Supreme Court decision of 1954 is not yet accepted.”
1954 SEGREGATION OUTLAWED [BROWN V BOARD] THREE NEWSPAPERS
Civil Rights, Newspapers, SegregationThree separate newspapers covering the story of the Landmark 1954 Brown versus Board of Education Decision in the May 17, 1954 Atlanta Journal, the Chattanooga News-Free Press, and the May 18th, 1954 Chattanooga Daily Times. Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka, 347 U.S. 483 (1954), was a landmark United States Supreme Court case in which the Court declared state laws establishing separate public schools for black and white students to be unconstitutional.
8 SIGNATURES FROM THE LITTLE ROCK NINE
Civil RightsOne of the fine jewels of this black history collection is this original LIFE Magazine (in great condition) showing the cover story of the Central High Crisis with signatures from eight of the Little Rock Nine (Carlotta Ray Karlmark refused to sign and has moved to Sweden).
The Little Rock Nine were a group of African American students enrolled in previously all-white Little Rock Central High School in 1957. Their enrollment was followed by the Little Rock Crisis, in which the students were initially prevented from entering the racially segregated school by Orval Faubus, the Governor of Arkansas. They then attended after the intervention of President Dwight D. Eisenhower
1960’s HOTEL WHERE MLK WAS ARRESTED/MANAGER PUT ACID IN POOL WHEN BLACKS SWAM (brochure)
Civil Rights, SegregationThis 1960’s Monson Motor Lodge brochure advertises the hotel where Martin Luther King was arrested and also where the hotel manager famously poured acid in the pool where an interracial group was protesting the segregation
1962 CORE “THE RIGHT TO VOTE”
Civil RightsViolence and threats of violence against people of color threatened to keep them from voting. This booklet was created in an effort to reduce fear and discouragement among African-Americans contemplating the vote. Notice the photo caption that says “Most persons register without major difficulty.” Nicely illustrated booklet, 22 pages, The Right To Vote by James McCain, Congress of Racial Equality (CORE), 1962. A phenomenal artifact demonstrating one of the strategies incorporated to persuade African-Americans to vote. Fine Condition.
“Unmasking Martin Luther King, Jr. the Deceiver” Pamphlet
Civil Rights, RacismThis anti-Martin Luther King, Jr. pamphlet is authored by Dr. Billy James Harris and is published by the Christian Crusade. Its opening sentence says, “Recent statements by race agitator Martin Luther King, Jr., clearly indicate that it is time to rip off his pious mask and reveal the real purpose and drive behind his anti-American activities.
1966 ANTI-MARTIN LUTHER KING CALIFORNIA NEWSLETTER
Civil Rights, RacismThis 1966 anti-Civil Rights newsletter is titled “RACIAL VIOLENCE AND HATRED” and is ironically from “Americans for Civil Harmony.” In it, it attributes the fight for equality and civil rights to a communist plot. It links Dr. King with illegal liquor sales and “promiscuous lewdness”; it identifies several of his aides as “sex perverts” and “identified communists“. It relies heavily on “perceptive critic”: J. Edgar Hoover. This newsletter was part of the FBI propaganda campaign to discredit the Civil Rights Movement. Like new condition.
1962 ANTI-JAMES MEREDITH BUMPER STICKER
Civil RightsThis bumper sticker is protesting James Meredith’s enrollment at the University of Mississippi (Ole Miss). The backing is still on the sticker. It is in good condition. In 1962, James Meredith was the first African-American student admitted to the segregated University of Mississippi, an event that was a flash point in the African-American civil rights movement.
1964 “CIVIL RIGHTS AND CIVIL WRONGS”
Civil Rights2 NEW SOUTH Magazines, 1958 and 1963
Civil RightsDecember 1958 and May 1963 issues of “New South Magazine”. All articles are concerning segregation. Each magazine is 16 pages.
The best and most valuable part is a chart showing a CHRONOLOGICAL LISTING OF SOUTHERN BOMBINGS from January 1, 1956 to June 1st 1963 (59 of them). See the photo of the listing of bombings; amazing detail (many names of who was bombed or whether they were white integrationists, pastors, etc.).
BAYARD RUSTIN AUTOGRAPHED 8×10 PHOTO
Civil RightsOne of the most interesting confidants in Martin Luther King’s inner circle was Bayard Rustin. When J. Edgar Hoover began a smear campaign to discredit Rustin based on his homosexuality (and therefore attempt to discredit the Civil Rights Movement), Dr. King distanced himself from him. To avoid attacks based on his sexual orientation, Rustin served rarely as a public spokesperson; he usually acted as an influential adviser to civil-rights leaders. Bayard Rustin was a leading activist of the early 1947–1955 Civil-Rights Movement. He organized the first of the Freedom Rides (1947) to challenge racial segregation on interstate busing
1952 REPUBLICAN CIVIL RIGHTS BROCHURE
Civil RightsThis 4 page political booklet is titled “More Civil Rights Double-Talk and More Goose Eggs”. It was distributed by the Republican Congressional Committee in 1952 on behalf of Senator H. Alexander Smith. The 4 page booklet is white (though discolored by age) with red and black print. It includes political cartoons and photos of Eisenhower, Nixon, and Smith. The content of the booklet details “Republican proposals for Civil Rights issues” and highlights the Democratic party’s push for “White Supremacy”. The booklet is not torn and other than slightly aged, is in mint condition.
A.G. GASTON MOTEL (2 MATCHBOOKS)
Civil Rights, Of Interest
The A. G. Gaston Motel is a former motel located at 1510 5th Avenue North, now part of Birmingham’s “Civil Rights District”. It was constructed in 1954 by businessman A. G. Gaston to provide higher-class service to black visitors during the city’s decades of strictly-segregated business and recreation. It would become Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s headquarters for Birmingham’s “Project C” leading to the 1964 Civil Rights Act.
Lorraine Motel Matchbook Cover
Civil Rights, Of InterestThis matchbook cover is for the infamous Lorraine Motel in Memphis, Tennessee where on April 4th, 1968 Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. was assassinated while standing on its balcony in front of room 306….
1962 NEGRO ENROLLMENT “ENDS SEGREGATION IN MISSISSIPPI” (James Meredith)
Civil Rights, NewspapersThis is the famous and historic headline from the October 2, 1962 edition of The New York Times reporting THE END OF SEGREGATION IN MISSISSIPPI when James Meredith integrated the all-white University of Alabama. White segregationists from around the state joined students and locals in a violent, 15-hour riot on the campus on September 30, in which two people were killed execution style, hundreds were wounded, and six federal marshals were shot. The headline reads “3,000 TROOPS PUT DOWN MISSISSIPPI RIOTS AND ARREST 112 AS NEGRO BEGINS CLASSES”. A photo of The New York Times coverage of this event is included in Taylor Branch’s Pulitzer Prize winning masterpiece Parting the Waters. Other articles include “Soldiers Beaten; Homes Damaged”, “Campus a Bivouac As Negro Enters”, and “Mobs Armed With Bottles and Bricks Terrorized Oxford From Dawn Until Noon”
1950’s A. G. Gaston Motel Postcard
Civil Rights, Of InterestThe A. G. Gaston Motel is a former motel located at 1510 5th Avenue North, now part of Birmingham’s “Civil Rights District”. It was constructed in 1954 by businessman A. G. Gaston to provide higher-class service to black visitors during the city’s decades of strictly-segregated business and recreation. It would become Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s headquarters for Birmingham’s “Project C” leading to the 1964 Civil Rights Act.
1963 MLK BIRMINGHAM JAIL EDITORIAL CARTOON
Civil Rights, NewspapersThis is the front page of the May 13, 1963 issue of the Winnipeg Free Press newspaper featuring Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. with American “Stars and Bars” artistically creating a jail cell. This was based on his historic incarceration in Birmingham (the month before) where he penned the “Letter from Birmingham Jail”.
1962 Brochure from the Ponce de Leon Motor Lodge (St. Augustine Segregation Testing Site)
Civil Rights, SegregationOn March 31st, 1964, 72-year-old Mary Peabody was arrested for attempting to integrate the cocktail lounge at the Ponce de Leon Motor Lodge in St. Augustine, Florida. This brochure shows a date of 1962, two years before the arrest. Peabody wasn’t the only person to test segregation at the hotel or in St. Augustine, but as the white mother of Massachusett’s Governor Endicott Peabody, she was among the most famous to be arrested. Mary Peabody’s unusual participation was a turning point that generatedpublicity and put an international spotlight on demonstrations in St. Augustine. Martin Luther King, Jr., sent a public telegram to then-Governor of Massachusetts stating, “I have been so deeply inspired by your mother’s creative witness in Florida.” Interestingly, press photos of her separate encounters with law enforcement can be matched to chairs from two different rooms on this brochure which identify the cocktail lounge, and the Terrace Dining Room where she would be arrested (see attached photos below).
1926 RARE VERNON JOHNS PUBLISHED SERMON
Civil RightsVernon Johns (April 22, 1892 – June 11, 1965) is considered by some as the father of the American Civil Rights Movement, having laid the foundation on which Martin Luther King, Jr. and others would build. Johns was a courageous and vocal opponent of segregation. In 1926, he was the first African-American to have his work published in Best Sermons of the Year; this was a personal triumph for Johns as he had repeatedly submitted sermons for consideration in previous years
1950 Bull Connor Segregation Political Ad
Civil Rights, NewspapersThis April 30, 1950 edition of The Mobile Press Register is complete and inside features a VERY large (14″ x 5″) political ad for Eugene ‘Bull’ Connor as a candidate for Governor of the state of Alabama. This ad says that he is “Alabama’s States’ Rights Democrat.” As Safety Commissioner, Bull Connor became a symbol of the segregated south after journalists captured the violent aftermath of his instruction to the Birmingham Fire Department to put their water hoses on demonstrators and ordered the Birmingham Police Department to attack demonstrators with police dogs….
Amelia Boynton Robinson Signed Photo
Civil Rights, Of InterestI was nervous about asking Ms. Boynton to sign this photo of her laying unconscious from her beating, but she understood that I valued her sacrifice. In 1965, Amelia Boynton Robinson asked Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. and the Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC) to come to Selma to add power to their voting rights campaign. They accepted, and set up headquarters in Ms. Robinson’s home. It was there at her home that they planned the Selma to Montgomery March which took place on March 7, 1965. Led by John Lewis and Hosea Williams, the event became known as Bloody Sunday when county and state police stopped the march and beat demonstrators bloody after they crossed the Edmund Pettus Bridge. Ms. Robinson was beaten unconscious; a photograph of her lying on Edmund Pettus Bridge went around the world. Ms. Robinson also suffered throat burns from the effects of tear gas.The events of Bloody Sunday and the later march on Montgomery galvanized national public opinion and led to the passage of the Voting Rights Act of 1965. While Selma had a population that was 50 percent black, only 300 of the town’s African-American residents were registered as voters in 1965, after thousands had been arrested in protests. By March 1966, after passage of the Voting Rights Act of 1965, 11,000 were registered to vote.Ms. Amelia Boynton Robinson passed away in 2015 at the age of 103. She was portrayed by Lorraine Toussaint in the 2014 film “Selma”.
Click here to see autographed copy of Amelia Boynton Robinson’s autobiography.
Diane Nash Autograph (8×10)
Civil Rights, Of Interest Diane Nash was part of the first successful lunch counter sit-in, she was a freedom rider, she co-founded the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC), and was involved in the Selma voting rights movement. Ms. Nash was jailed many times for the cause of civil rights and spent time in jail while she was pregnant with her first child; her crime was teaching nonviolent tactics to children. Few civil rights leaders were as militant as Diane Nash. When violence stopped the first Freedom Ride in Alabama, Diane Nash was insistent that the rides continue. “The students have decided that we can’t let violence overcome,” she told civil rights legend Rev. Fred Shuttlesworth, “We are coming into Birmingham to continue the Freedom Ride.” She later led all the rides from Birmingham to Jackson in 1961.
1958 MONTGOMERY STORY COMIC (Fellowship of Reconciliation)
Civil RightsThis booklet titled “MARTIN LUTHER KING AND THE MONTGOMERY STORY” was published by the Fellowship of Reconciliation and sold for ten cents. The subtitle says, “How 50,000 Negroes found a new way to end racial discrimination.”
Martin Luther King’s relationship with the Fellowship of Reconciliation (FOR) began during the Montgomery bus boycott, when FOR veteran Bayard Rustin
James Lawson and Bernard Lafayette Freedom Rider Autographs
Civil Rights, Of Interest111 JET MAGAZINES FROM 1950’s & 1960’s
Civil RightsThis huge lot of 111 Jet Magazines is a fascinating time capsule taking you into all of the issues of the Black community before and during the Civil Rights Movement. Note some of the cover stories: “BOYCOTT EXCLUSIVE: What’s Happening In Montgomery?, Will Bombs Keep Integration Out of Alabama?, Tenn. Negroes Who Must Vote In Tents Because They Voted, Will the Bates Be Forced To Quit Little Rock?, Parents: Unsung Heroes In School Integration Crisis, The Woman Who Tried To Kill King, The Girl Who Upset Alabama (Arthurine Lucy), Ambush Shooting of Meredith, Muhammad Ali’s Draft Dispute
1965 TWO JET MAGAZINES CHRONICLING EVENTS IN SELMA, AL
Civil Rights1960’s SNCC PINBACK
Civil RightsTwo pinbacks featuring black and white hands shaking with “SNCC” (Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee) inscribed below them. One button is 1″ with black border, the other is 7/8″ with no border. Both in perfect condition.
1955-1960 Emmett Till Jet Magazine Collection
Civil RightsMany historians say that it was seeing the photos of Emmett Till’s mutilated body in THIS ISSUE (Sept 15, 1955) of Jet Magazine that sparked the Civil Rights Movement. Rosa Parks said that she thought about going to the back of the bus, but when she thought about Emmett Till, she couldn’t do it (her refusal to give her seat to a white man occurred 95 days after Till’s death). The other 5 Jet Magazines in this collection show cover stories relating to Till’s death: “Will Mississippi Whitewash the Emmett Till Slaying?, Emmett Till’s Ghost Haunts Natchez, Where is Third Man in Till Lynching? How the Emmett Till Case Changed 5 Lives, Emmett Till’s Mother Starts a New Life.”
1956 EISENHOWER INTEGRATION AD TARGETING BLACK COMMUNITY
Civil Rights
This 1956 Advertisement is a double-sided card intended for distribution within the black community. On one side it lists all of Eisenhower’s desegregation accomplishments that have benefitted African-Americans; the other side claims that Stevenson is a “fence-sitter”.
It shows that under Eisenhower…
“No more segregation in Washington D.C.–Hotels, Restaurants, and Schools, over 300 jobs for Negroes paying $6,000-$17,500 per year, no more segregation in Veterans Hospitals, no more separate water fountains or rest rooms in Navy shipyards, no more segregation in the Armed Forces.”
1997 SIGNED AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF TUSKEGEE AIRMAN
Civil RightsThis 1st Edition autobiography is SIGNED by arguably the most famous of the Tuskegee Airmen, Chuck “A-Train” Dryden. “A-Train” was also depicted in the critically acclaimed HBO movie “Tuskegee Airmen”. Dryden passed away in 2008.
1971 ENFORCEMENT OF THE 1965 VOTING RIGHTS ACT
Civil RightsThis 1971 book was “printed for the use of the Committee on the Judiciary” and is a compilation of hearings before the Civil Rights Oversight Subcommittee on the Enforcement of the 1965 Voting Rights Act. It is a rare “time capsule” of everything that was said before the House of Representatives during this turbulent time.
DAISY BATES SIGNED 1ST ED. AUTOBIOGRAPHY
Civil RightsThis is a rare 1st Edition SIGNED copy of Daisy Bates’ autobiography The Long Shadow of Little Rock. Just 5 years after the Little Rock Crisis, she writes “Especially for a freedom fighter. May God keep you. Daisy Bates Nov. 6, 1926 (she obviously meant 1962). Ms. Bates passed away in 1999. After the nine black students were selected to attend all-white Central High, Mrs. Daisy Bates would be with
1989 SIGNED RALPH ABERNATHY AUTOBIOGRAPHY
Civil Rights
This is an almost perfect 1st edition boldly SIGNED copy of Ralph Abernathy’s autobiography. Ralph David Abernathy, Sr. (March 11, 1926 – April 17, 1990) was a leader of the American Civil Rights Movement, a minister, and the best friend of Martin Luther King, Jr. in the Southern Christian Leadership Conference.
Abernathy was also the organizer of the first mass meeting of the Montgomery Bus Boycott to protest Rosa Parks’ arrest on December 1, 1955. Abernathy and his friend Martin Luther King, Jr. organized the boycott and gave birth to the American Civil Rights Movement. Following King’s assassination, Dr. Abernathy took up the leadership of the SCLC Poor People’s Campaign and led the March on Washington, D.C., that had been planned for May 1968.
1991 SIGNED AUTOBIOGRAPHY–MOTHER OF VOTING RIGHTS MOVEMENT
Civil RightsClick here to see signed photo of beating.
This is a SIGNED copy of Amelia Boynton Robinson’s autobiography Bridge Over Troubled Water. Ms. Boynton Robinson personally invited Dr. King to Selma, Alabama and is considered the mother of the Voting Rights Movement. She was famously beaten unconscious (photo went around the world) on the Edmund Pettus Bridge while marching for the right to vote.
ROSA PARKS AUTOGRAPH (1st ED. AUTOBIOGRAPHY)
Civil RightsThis is a 1st edition copy (with dust jacket) of Rosa Park’s autobiography My Story. Book is in mint condition; dust jacket is in great condition, with almost non-existent wear at top.
SIGNED TUSKEGEE AIRMAN POSTER
Civil RightsFour original Tuskegee Airmen have autographed this oversized poster (see wristwatch for size) for the movie “The Tuskegee Airmen.” Among the bold signatures on this poster is that of Robert Williams. Williams wrote the story for the movie, but more importantly, he was a distinguished and decorated pilot with the famed Tuskegee Airmen. Most of these flying heroes have now passed away. I aquired this poster and had it signed at the world premiere of the movie where several original Tuskegee Airmen were in attendance and agreed to sign.
1965 ORIGINAL INFAMOUS PHOTO OF BEATEN MARCHER, AMELIA BOYNTON ROBINSON
Civil RightsThis is the infamous photo of Amelia Boynton Robinson being gassed and beaten while marching for the right to vote. She was eventually left for dead after being beaten with a billy club for her participation in a peaceful march (across the Edmund Pettus Bridge) for the right to vote. Evidence that this photo went around the world is the fact this is an original press photo from a Latin American country (everything is in Spanish).
Click here to see the autographed copy of Ms. Boynton Robinson’s autobiography.
SNCC “FREEDOM SCHOOL POETRY”
Civil RightsThis Freedom School Poetry book from 1966 is quite a jewel from SNCC (Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee). Please read the posted photo (dedicated to Emmett Till); it concludes regarding these poems and paintings that “These are the expressions of the young freedom school students of Mississippi.”
1968 MARTIN LUTHER KING, JR POST-ASSASSINATION MAGAZINE
Civil Rights1957 DAISY BATES SIGNED COVER LIFE MAGAZINE
Civil Rights
I am fairly confident you will never see this again–the late Daisy Bates has signed an almost-perfect copy of the Little Rock Nine edition of Life Magazine.
After the nine black students were selected to attend Central High Mrs. Daisy Bates would be with them every step of the way. Bates guided and advised the nine students, known as the Little Rock Nine, when they attempted to enroll in 1957 at Little Rock Central High School, a previously all-white institution. The students’ attempts to enroll provoked a confrontation with Governor Orval Faubus, who called out the National Guard to prevent their entry. White mobs met at the school and threatened to kill the black students; these mobs harassed not only activists but also northern journalists who came to cover the story.
3 JAMES MEREDITH SIGNATURES
Civil Rights
This is a collection of three signatures from Civil Rights legend James Meredith. One signature is an autographed photo sized 4×6; another signature is on the cover of a program where he spoke in the 90’s; the last signature is on the cover of a booklet he sold based on his autobiography. In 1962, James Meredith was the first African-American student admitted to the segregated University of Mississippi, an event that was a flashpoint in the African American civil rights movement. Inspired by President John F. Kennedy’s inaugural address, Meredith decided to exercise his constitutional rights and apply to the University of Mississippi. His goal was to put pressure on the Kennedy administration to enforce civil rights for African Americans.
1965 JOHN LEWIS SIGNED LIFE MAG
Civil RightsJohn Lewis (pictured at the front of the line on this cover) has boldly signed this March 19, 1965 LIFE Magazine that features the Selma, Alabama cover story of “Bloody Sunday”…when peaceful demonstrators were beaten on the Edmund Pettus Bridge by State Troopers.
The 1965 Selma to Montgomery marches, also known as “Bloody Sunday” and the two marches that followed, led to the passage of the 1965 Voting Rights Act, a landmark achievement of the 1960s American Civil Rights Movement.
JAMES FARMER AUTOGRAPHED PHOTO
Civil Rights3×5 autographed photo of Civil Rights activist James L. Farmer.
James Leonard Farmer, Jr. (January 12, 1920 – July 9, 1999) was a civil rights activist and leader in the American Civil Rights Movement. He was the initiator and organizer of the 1961 Freedom Ride, which eventually led to the desegregation of inter-state transportation in the United States.
1954 YEAR OF THE GREAT DECISION (NAACP)
Civil Rights1968 GENE MCCARTHY FOR PRESIDENT CIVIL RIGHTS BROCHURE
Civil Rights4 “CRISIS” MAGS (NAACP) from 1955,1966 (2), & 1968
Civil RightsThese 4 Crisis Magazines are published by the NAACP and are from 1955, 1966 (2), and 1968. These magazines are filled with articles and photos on the Civil Rights Movement and outstanding achievements of African-Americans. Note the article (see photo) entitled “Again the Name Negro” and the photo of the burned-down house of NAACP leader Vernon Dahmer (see photo).
1980 ROY WILKINS SIGNED FDC
Civil RightsThis is a signature from NAACP’s Roy Wilkins (signed one year before he died) on an “Official First Day of Issue” Cover honoring Harriet Tubman. It is postmarked February 1, 1978 and also includes a 13 cent Harriet Tubman stamp. Wilkins has signed with a blue pen. In 1955, Roy Wilkins was chosen to be the executive secretary of the NAACP and in 1964 he became its executive director. He had an excellent reputation as an articulate spokesperson for the civil rights movement. One of his first actions was to provide support to civil rights activists in Mississippi who were being subject to a “credit squeeze” by members of the White Citizens Councils.
1963 “HUMILIATION STALKS THEM” (NAACP BROCHURE)
Civil RightsThis 1963 brochure from the NAACP says “From Morning until Night…Humiliation Stalks Them”. This is the text of the testimony of Roy Wilkins, NAACP Executive Secretary, July 22, 1963, in supporting the public accommodations section (Title II, S.1731) of the proposed civil rights bill being considered by the Senate Commerce Committee. It says, “…our faltering fealty to the great ideal of ‘all men’ set down in our Declaration of Independence, has shaken the confidence of the millions of mankind who seek freedom and peace. Do we mean ‘all men’ or do we just say so? Is our nation the leader of the free world or of the white world? Are we for democracy in southeast Asia, but for Jim Crow at home?”
1963 GEORGE WALLACE TIME MAGAZINE
Civil Rights3 CIVIL RIGHTS MAGAZINES
Civil RightsThis is the August 21, 1967 edition of Newsweek (with the cover story “The Black Mood“) and the March 5, 1965 edition of LIFE Magazine (with the cover story “A Monument to Negro Upheaval” about the death of Malcolm X and the “Resulting Vengeful Gang War”). Also included is the August 22, 1966 edition of Newsweek with cover story “Black and White: A Major Survey of U.S. Racial Attitudes Today“; this issue addresses the racial turbulence that defined 1966.
1965 KLAN TRIAL (LIFE MAGAZINE)
Civil RightsThis is the complete Life Magazine from May 21, 1965 with the cover story “Courtroom pictures of the Klan Murder Trial: Defense Lawyer Matt Murphy’s victory sign”. Matt Murphy was the Klan attorney.
The following, about the trial (but not in the magazine), is VERY interesting…
Twice frustrated in attempts to convict Collie Leroy Wilkins for the murder of Viola Liuzzo, federal prosecutors successfully prosecuted Wilkins with an 1870 law for depriving Liuzzo of her civil rights.
On March 25, 1965, thousands of civil rights marchers converged on the Alabama state capitol in Montgomery, demanding an end to obstacles to black voter registration. The day of speeches ended
BOMBING in Birmingham–1963 Newsweek, Near MINT
Civil RightsCleanest copy you will ever see of the September 30, 1963 Newsweek with the bombing of the 16th Street Baptist Church in Birmingham, Alabama on the cover. Inside is an excellent article with great photographs entitled “Birmingham: My God, you’re not even safe in church!” A great time capsule.
Beside the magazine’s fantastic condition, it DOES NOT HAVE A MAILING LABEL. It is as if it is fresh off the newsstand.
1963 LIFE MAG (MEDGAR EVERS FUNERAL)
Civil RightsHeartbreaking Life Magazine from the funeral of Medgar Evers, June 28, 1963. Magazine is in fantastic condition.
Medgar Wiley Evers (July 2, 1925 – June 12, 1963) was an African-American civil rights activist from Mississippi involved in efforts to overturn segregation at the University of Mississippi. After returning from overseas military service in World War II and completing his secondary education, he became active in the civil rights movement. He became a field secretary for the NAACP. Evers was assassinated by Byron De La Beckwith, a member of the White Citizens’ Council. As a veteran, Evers was buried with full military honors at Arlington National Cemetery. His murder and the resulting trials inspired civil rights protests, as well as numerous works of art, music, and film.
Mississippi Summer-1964 Newsweek, Near MINT Condition
Civil RightsCleanest copy you will ever see of the July 13, 1964 Newsweek with “Mississippi Summer 1964” on the cover. Inside is an excellent article with great photos. Inside, “Troubled State, Troubled Time.” A great time capsule. You’ll find coverage of the voting drive, the murder of Schwermer, Chaney, and Goodman, the police, civil rights, and more.
Besides the magazine’s fantastic condition, it DOES NOT HAVE a mailing label. It’s as if it is fresh off the newsstand after exactly 50 years.