Seeing those hard-side green suitcases took me smack back into the past. I had a set of them during my college years. I’d fill each of the three matching pieces with the few clothes I could afford…
Month: April 2019
Vanity jar ‘received’ a woman’s brushed hair
Posted in African American women, Beauty Products, collectibles, jewelry, and Trinket box
What a sweet little vanity jar I thought as I saw the squat white container adorned with pink roses and trimmed in yellow and lime green. It looked like one of those Nippon trinket boxes that…
Song does not intertwine Paul Robeson & Kate Smith
Posted in Black history, history, and Music
When I began reading the stories about the removal of Kate Smith’s “God Bless America” recording from the games of two sports teams, one name stood out for me. Paul Robeson. I’m very familiar with…
What to do with old photo albums
Posted in Photos
The boxes of photo albums were in separate spots on the outside tables at the auction house. As I rounded the corner of each table, I found another album, then another, and then another. Some…
As I walked among the furniture at the auction house, I came upon an item that was familiar to me – but different. It was a female figure, very tall and lithe, elegantly dressed in…
The painting showed a lone black man in a pastoral scene emboldened with brilliant tones of caramel colors. I ventured closer to it, eager to find out who had created such a powerful image. I…
My first look at Ebony’s first issue, Nov. 1945
Posted in Black history, and Ephemera/Paper/Documents
The Ebony magazine cover showed a black boy haloed by a group of white boys about the same age. There was nothing threatening about the photo: In a show of harmony, one white kid was hugging…
Family artifacts that may be worthy of history & cash
Posted in Black history, civil rights movement, Ephemera/Paper/Documents, and Photos
few years ago, I bumped into an African American woman who told me that her aunt was a member of the Women’s Army Corp during World War II. I knew that there were not many…