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

341 340 c   (RECONSTRUCTION.) [Chapman, Thomas]. False Reconstruction; or, The Slavery that is not Abolished. 24 pages including front wrapper. 12mo, original printed wrappers, two closed tears to wrapper; internally clean. Saxonville, MA, 1876 [400/600] Chapman argues that due to the failures of Reconstruction, slavery had not been truly abolished, and that the legal abolition of slavery was not enough: “If we put it away in the spirit of selfishness, and merely to save ourselves, and our heart be still unbroken by a sense of our crimes against the black man, we may go on to become a greater criminal and murderer than ever, and be therefore farther from national salvation than ever” (page 23).Afro-Americana Supplement 381; Blockson 9409. 341 c   (RECONSTRUCTION.) [Wellstood, William, engraver]. Engraved portrait of African-American members of Reconstruction Congresses. Engraving, 9 x 5 3 / 4 inches; minor toning, small adhesive remnant in left margin. [New York], circa early 1880s [800/1,200] Portraits of five important African-American legislators from the Reconstruction era. Joseph H. Rainey of South Carolina was the first African-American representative in Congress, and James T. Rapier was one of the first from Alabama. The other three were Mississippians: Hiram R. Revels was the state’s first African-American senator; Blanch K. Bruce was their first to serve a full term; and John R. Lynch was their first United States Representative. At least one other copy has a Wellstood imprint in the lower margin, though most do not; it is unclear whether this one was cropped or just issued on smaller paper. Wellstood & Co. first appears in the New York directories in 1879, though the family had been engravers there for many years previous, and we would guess this print was probably produced before the death of Revels in 1883. 342 c   NO LOT