Auction Highlights: Printed & Manuscript African Americana — March 20, 2025

At Auction Thursday, March 20 at 10:30 AM ET

Catalogue & Bidding

Highlights of this March auction include material related to many of the nation’s most important civil rights leaders, including a manuscript recollection by Rosa Parks of the first time she met Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., and a scarce printing of Dr. King’s Nobel Prize acceptance speech. A substantial Frederick Douglass section includes a photograph, several of his publications, his handsome autograph statement on voting rights, and an 1886 letter sharing the history of America’s first private school for Black girls.

On the military front, we have a very special copy of Keep Us Flying, the first poster to recognize the Tuskegee Airmen. It was the personal property of the poster’s model, Lt. Robert W. Deiz, and is accompanied by two family snapshots that show the resemblance. Also included are a variety of posters by Danny Lyons for SNCC and Emory Douglas for the Black Panthers. The entertainment section includes a poster for an early appearance of Cab Calloway and his Cotton Club Orchestra from 1931 and posters for concerts by Aretha Franklin, James Brown, Nina Simone and more.

Frederick Douglass, autograph statement on voting rights for ‘all the people without distinction of race or color,’ 1866. Estimate $20,000 to $30,000.
Rosa Parks, hand-written recollection of her first meeting with Martin Luther King, Jr., circa 1990s. Estimate $30,000 to $40,000.
Alfred Eisenstaedt, group of photographs of Henry Aaron’s family as he hit his record 715th home run, 1974. Estimate $2,500 to $3,500.
Keep Us Flying! Buy War Bonds, 1943, with material connecting the poster to its subject, Robert W. Deiz. Estimate $4,000 to $6,000.
P.S. Duval, Philadelphia: Supervisory Committee for Recruiting Colored Regiments, United States Soldiers at Camp William Penn, hand-colored lithograph, 1864. Estimate $8,000 to $12,000.
Order of Calanthe chapter banner, women’s auxiliary of the Knights of Pythias fraternal order, painted silk banner, 1927. Estimate $2,000 to $3,000.

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February 21, 2025
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Category: Printed & Manuscript African Americana
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