I read several articles last week on how African Americans and Latinos get turned down more often than whites for home-mortgage loans. The result is that many aren’t able to buy homes or lose the use…
Category: Black history
George Washington Carver in 1947 comic book of greats
Posted in Black history, and Ephemera/Paper/Documents
When I saw the title and cover of the yellowed comic book, I didn’t expect it to be thorough. “Highlights From the Lives of 48 Famous Americans,” it blared. Along two sides with an illustration…
Tuskegee Airmen 1943 “Buy War Bonds” poster
Posted in Black history, Ephemera/Paper/Documents, history, and Military
When the United States needed lots of cash to fund its role in World War II, it turned to its citizens to buy war bonds. Using propaganda posters, the country played on their patriotism, asking…
Inspecting an immigrant “girl” for work as domestic, 1870s style
Posted in Asian, Black history, Ephemera/Paper/Documents, and history
The young woman stood hopefully, her eyes downcast, as a fashionable woman with a little girl looked her over. Behind the young woman were other women dourly etched in an illustration on the cover of…
Frederick Douglass on cover of Harper’s Weekly, 1883
Posted in Black history, and Ephemera/Paper/Documents
Frederick Douglass was the main speaker at the 1883 National Colored Convention in Louisville, KY, using his great voice to rally against the injustices still encountered by former slaves in the era of Reconstruction. Black…
Questions from a 1930s “Negro History” contest
Posted in Black history, Ephemera/Paper/Documents, and School
The bound sheets of paper had faded with age and the text had been typed with a typewriter whose ribbon needed changing. That told me a lot about the time period of this document, along…
Early 20th-century take on Wedgwood’s slave medallion
Posted in Black history, Ephemera/Paper/Documents, and history
The pencil drawing had all the hallmarks of the famous Wedgwood slave medallion from the 18th century. It showed an African American man, chains around his wrists and the words “Am I Not a Man…
Picture Stories: Lobby card for Eddie Jones’ “One Round Jones”
Posted in Black history, Movies, and Photos
The wonderful photos kept coming. For several weeks, black and white photos with a mix of people, events and celebrations turned up on the auction table. An auction-house staffer told me that a dealer brought them…
Picture Stories: Dance Carnival at Madison Square Garden, 1941
Posted in Black history, dance, and Photos
The wonderful photos kept coming. For several weeks, black and white photos with a mix of people, events and celebrations turned up on the auction table. An auction-house staffer told me that a dealer brought them…