255 300
451
●
MILLER, DORIE. MARTIN, DAVID STONE.
Above and Beyond the Call
of Duty.
Poster, 28-1/16 x 20
1
⁄
4
inches; faint creases where folded, several very small
repairs professionally conserved and backed with archival paper, excellent condition.
Washington: U.S. Government Printing Office, 1943
[10,000/15,000]
A RARE WWII POSTER BY DAVID STONE MARTIN
,
ONE OF SEVERAL INSPIRATIONAL POSTERS
AIMED AT THE BLACK COMMUNITY
.
Martin (1913-1992) studied at the Art Institute of Chicago.
He is best remembered for the over 400 record jackets he designed for Folkways and other labels. His
work is hung at the Museum of Modern Art, the Metropolitan Museum, and the Smithsonian. At
the outbreak of World War II, the armed services continued its long-held practice of rigid discrimina-
tion against African-Americans. This practice included not only a stubborn reluctance to acknowledge
the capabilities of the African-American soldier or sailor, but also a shameful denial of their courage
and bravery. When Pearl Harbor was attacked on 7 December, navy mess-man Doris “Dorie” Miller
was serving on the USS West Virginia when it was struck. Before abandoning ship with the rest of
the crew, he braved enemy fire to carry a wounded officer to safety, and though not trained for combat,
he took up one of the ship’s anti-aircraft guns, possibly downing at least one enemy plane. “It wasn’t
hard. I just pulled the trigger and she worked fine. I had watched the others with these guns. I guess I
fired her for about fifteen minutes. I think I got one of those Jap planes. They were diving pretty close
to us.” He eventually received a Navy Cross but only after intense pressure from the black press back
home. Miller was killed when his aircraft carrier was sunk in the Pacific in November of 1943.
ONE
OTHER EXAMPLE OF THIS POSTER WAS SOLD IN THESE ROOMS
.
451