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INSCRIBED AND SIGNED TO OSSIE DAVIS AND RUBY DEE
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(SLAVERY AND ABOLITION—RECONSTRUCTION.) DU BOIS, W. E. B.
Black Reconstruction.
746 pages. Thick 8vo, original black cloth, lettered in white on
the spine; remnant of cloth tape at the foot of the spine.
INSCRIBED TO OSSIE DAVIS AND
RUBY DEE ON THE FRONT FREE END PAPER
. New York: Russell, circa 1935
[750/1,000]
THE SECOND EDITION OF DU BOIS
’
S MAGNUM OPUS
.
One of the resources for the history of
Reconstruction in general and black reconstruction in particular.
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(SLAVERY AND ABOLITION—RECONSTRUCTION.)
Combined Marriage
License and Marriage Certificate for Henderson Carter (colored) and Rebecca
Marshall (colored).
Folio leaf, 13 x 8 inches, decoratively printed utilizing a variety of
the printer’s fonts. Docketed on the reverse “309, Recorded 1869.”
Talbot County, GA, 19 January 1870
[600/800]
An attractive example of a Reconstruction marriage license and certificate, using a variety of printer’s
fonts. Formal marriage ceremonies for slave couples were generally reserved for house servants if at all.
Slave owners might have a white minister or a black plantation preacher perform the rite, and a celebra-
tion might be allowed in the slave quarters. But for the most part, marriage was a question of mutual
agreement, more often than not involving children. The official marriage licenses and certificates of
Reconstruction were extremely important in restoring basic human rights to tens of thousands of cou-
ples who had been living together as man and wife under slavery. Without a legal instrument, the
legitimacy of the children of ex-slaves and their rights to inheritance were often impossible to prove.
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