A few years ago, I picked up an Elizabeth Catlett lithograph of a Mexican girl with a stoic and determined stare. It was the first of Catlett’s images that I’d come across from her years…
Month: November 2019
Playbill for Bill “Bojangles” Robinson’s 1939 ‘Hot Mikado’ show
Posted in Broadway plays, Performers, Photos, and theater
The cover of the theater program was a little off-putting, but the photo tucked inside was adorable. The cover showed a caricature of a male dancer with red lips and black face mimicking the look…
1923 ‘Simms’ Blue Book’ of accomplished African Americans
Posted in Black history, Books, and Ephemera/Paper/Documents
The book was titled “Simms’ Blue Book,” but its color was a faded blue and its cover was pockmarked with stains. It looked perfect when I saw it on the auction-house website, and just looking…
Storied colonial home bears an African American legacy
Posted in Architecture/Buildings, Black history, and Home
Helene Huffer couldn’t stop tearing up. She was about to leave a home that had taken hold of her the moment she saw it in person. She dabbed repeatedly at her eyes with the paper…
The art of Walter Dodd Condit
Posted in Art
As I peered at the watercolor, I saw signs of the style of artist Walter Dodd Condit. In the mishmash of angles and colors were the familiar outlines of rowhouses typical of much of the…