An African American baker named Cyrus Bustill baked bread for George Washington’s troops during the Revolutionary War. That’s what the documents showed, but family historian Joyce Mosley wanted more verification. So she decided to join…
Category: slavery
Robert Purvis, a black abolitionist you may have never heard of
Posted in Black history, Books, history, and slavery
I could tell that the book had some years on it because the pages had lost their white edges and the cover was frail. The discolored cover bore no title, just a fancy design in…
The ugly images of anti-Semitism & racism
Posted in Black history, Carvings, collectibles, Ephemera/Paper/Documents, history, and slavery
We’d like to think that we will someday somehow get past the hatred of those with the insane image in their heads that if you’re not like them – whatever that means – that you…
Anti-slavery pleas displayed in different forms
Posted in Black history, collectibles, history, and slavery
I’d often observed the “Am I Not a Man and a Brother” and the “Am I Not a Woman and a Sister” anti-slavery pleas on coins and medallions. The ones at this auction were in two new forms: a…
Enslaved woman in John Rogers’ “The Fugitive’s Story”
Posted in Art, Black history, slavery, and Statues
The three men in the sculpture were stalwarts of the abolitionist movement of the 19th century. Sculptor John Rogers had captured them for eternity in a grouping titled “The Fugitive’s Story.” Poet John Greenleaf Whittier,…
Jim Crow signs separated a people & a nation
Posted in Advertising, Black history, collectibles, Signs, and slavery
Lest we forget. That’s what came to my mind when I saw the Jim Crow signs in the glass case at the auction house. As I stood there looking at the signs outside the case,…
Broadside shows slavery’s awful practice of splitting families
Posted in Black history, Ephemera/Paper/Documents, and slavery
The bold title was very clear in its mission: “Public Sale of Negroes by Richard Clagett.” If you didn’t know better, you’d think it was the title of a book and its author. But this was…
I knew the image by heart. An enslaved African man, one knee bent, hands folded and arms in chains, his eyes looking to heaven to rescue him from the hell he was living on Earth,…
The dress had seen better days. Literally. From what I could see – I wasn’t about to touch it – it was stained and torn but still gave notice that it was fashionable in its…
Reader seeks info on slave depot in Columbus, GA
Posted in Black history, and slavery
Friday at Auction Finds is readers’ questions day. I try to guide readers to resources to help them determine the value of their items, and sometimes help them to gather historical information about a subject or item. Today’s…