Sale 2471 - Printed & Manuscript African Americana, March 29, 2018

144 c   (BUSINESS.) Badge from the Maryland Colored State Industrial Fair. Badge printed in red and orange, 1 1 / 4 inches round in metal casing, depicting the Maryland state seal, with 2-inch silk flag ribbon attached; minimal wear. Baltimore, MD: Minks Badge Company, 1907 [300/400] The first Maryland Colored State Industrial Fair was held in 1888, but went on a long hiatus before being revived in Baltimore in 1907. It featured parades, a speech by the governor, and prizes for “farm products, work done at the industrial and regular schools, and specimens of the work by colored women.” 145 c   (BUSINESS.) Report of the Thirteenth Annual Convention of the National Negro Business League. Frontispiece portrait of Booker T.Washington. [5]-210 pages. 8vo, original printed wrappers, minor wear; dampstaining along top edge, ink marks on pages 89-91, frontispiece with a bit of adhesion on inner margin. Washington, [1912] [500/750] The title is dry, but this is not just a volume of meeting minutes and treasurer’s reports. It consists mostly of speeches given by numerous successful businessmen and women, including transcripts of panel discussions with Booker T.Washington. Included are the stories of a farmer, realtor, baker, insurance agent, manufacturer, newspaper publisher, and many more. One speech was titled “Liberia:An Opportunity for Negro Business Men.” Most notably, on the final day of the convention, Madame C.J.Walker took the stage, just two years after she began manufacturing beauty products on a large scale in Indianapolis:“Surely you are not going to shut the door on my face. I feel that I am in a business that is a credit to the womanhood of our race. . . . I have built my own factory on my own ground. . . . I am not ashamed of my past; I am not ashamed of my humble beginning. Don’t think because you have to go down in the wash-tub that you are any less a lady!” 146 c   (BUSINESS.) Negro Buyer’s Guide and Directory, Respectfully Dedicated to the American Negro Soldiers Who Gave Their Lives. 120 pages. 8vo, original illustrated printed wrappers; minor dampstaining, a bit of rust staining to inner margins from staples, 2 center leaves detached, musty odor. Columbus, OH: L.P. Fletcher, [1944] [600/900] This directory includes a 7-page directory of black-owned businesses in Columbus, numerous advertisements, biographies of local business leaders, and in the spirit of the times, many news reports on African Americans in combat overseas. It does not bear a date, but includes several news references through August 1944, and none later. Not listed in OCLC, and we find only one other copy at auction. 144 146