Uncovering Our History Through The Relics Left Behind
Posted in Black history, Music, Performers, Politics, and theater
Paul Robeson must be turning over in his grave. That’s what we say in the South when something unbelievable happens that a now-deceased person had fought/spoken for or against. That saying keeps coming to my…
“Jesus,” I heard the woman say in a voice of controlled disbelief behind me. “Jesus,” she said again. We both stood before wrought-iron shackles that had perhaps been on the ankles of an enslaved African…
Posted in Art, Black history, and history
I came across the artist James M. Washington Jr. by chance. I was searching for artwork by Philadelphia ceramicist Frances Serber among 1970s photographs of public art compiled by the Fairmount Park Art Association. That’s when I saw the…
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,…
Posted in African American women, Black history, Equipment, Home, and Work
When I saw the wooden barrel in the rear yard of the auction house, I thought it was a planter, just like the ones I had at home, but much bigger and wider. As I…
Posted in Black history, Ephemera/Paper/Documents, and Music
Friday at Auction Finds is a day to answer readers’ questions. I try to guide readers to resources to help them determine the value of their items or learn more about them. Today, a reader…
Posted in Black history, Ephemera/Paper/Documents, and Politics
From time to time, I get questions from readers about the items they own. I’m not able to appraise their treasures, but I can do some preliminary research to get them started. So, the results…
I was on my way out of the auction house, having seen nothing I wanted to buy, when I decided to stop and browse at three tables near the door. The last table held flat…
Posted in Black history, civil rights movement, and Ephemera/Paper/Documents
The bright yellow sheet was hidden beneath a pile of nothing papers, and I wouldn’t have found it if I wasn’t in the habit of combing through documents at auction. It was in a cheap…
