The big bold headline on the framed yellowed newspaper told me plenty about what the editors of the Baltimore News American considered the most significant on Aug. 5, 1964: “U.S Bombs North Vietnam PT Bases,…
Category: Black history
I quickly directed my auction buddy Janet to the box-lot room at the auction house so she could bid on a Pennsylvania map she had seen earlier. It was soon to be sold and I wanted…
‘Get on the Good Foot’ & other lingering memories
Posted in Black history, collectibles, Dolls, Ephemera/Paper/Documents, and Military
The James Brown 45 record with the orange label lay near the edge of the table, its title releasing sweet memories for folks of a certain generation who instantly recognized it. One man recalled buying “Get on the Good Foot”…
Reader asks about black Georgia ancestors named Jarrell
Posted in Black history, Family, and slavery
Friday at Auction Finds is readers’ questions day. I try to guide readers to resources for them to determine the value of their items. I’m not able to appraise their treasures, but I can do…
Rubbing the Apollo’s fabled ‘Tree of Hope’
Posted in Architecture/Buildings, Black history, Music, and Performers
The real one’s on the stage, the young man behind the podium in the lobby of Harlem’s Apollo Theater was saying to me. I was enchanted with the figures carved into the slick surface of…
At an auction recently, I bought a box of ephemera listed as mid-20th century African American items. The lot was among several containing African-American history-related papers and documents, and I checked out each of them. Black…
Reader’s broom and its link to 1855 integrated college
Posted in Black history, collectibles, Crafts, and history
Fridays at Auction Finds is readers’ questions day. I try to guide readers to resources for them to determine the value of their items. I’m not able to appraise their treasures, but I can do…
The wrongheaded sale of Jesse Owens’ Olympic medal
Posted in Black history, history, and Sports
It seems blasphemous that one of the 1936 Olympic Gold medals won by Jesse Owens was sold at auction over the weekend. It’s even more distressing that the man himself was never able to capitalize…
Are papers of Harvard’s 1st black graduate worth $60,000?
Posted in Black history, and Ephemera/Paper/Documents
A Chicago construction worker recently threatened to burn some historical documents belonging to the first African American graduate of Harvard University. He was angry because college officials refused to pay him the $60,000 that he…