Uncovering Our History Through The Relics Left Behind
Posted in Black history, and Photos
I started to call you, the female auction-house staffer told me as I stood there waiting for a bidder’s number. She had seen an African American-related item for sale that day and immediately thought of…
Posted in African American women, Black history, Plays, and Sports
Some years ago when I met Mamie “Peanut” Johnson at one of those events where former Negro Leagues players sign autographs, I was surprised and delighted to learn that black women were Negro Leaguers, too.…
In 1923, Augusta Savage applied for a summer program at the Fontainebleau School of Fine Arts, a newly opened American-owned school in France. The all-white and all-male selection committee rejected her because she was black. Savage…
Posted in Black history, Music, and Performers
I’d never heard of Amanda Seales, but I was open to seeing her live game show called “Smart Funny & Black” at a theater in Philadelphia when a friend suggested it. The friend later sent me…
Posted in Art, Black history, Civil War, history, and Military
What this flag must have seen! It started out as a piece of silk cloth in Philadelphia, painted by David Bustill Bowser with an emblem of a black Union soldier waving goodbye to a white woman…
They sold a Booker T. Washington coin, my auction buddy Janet told me when I finally sat down next to her at a recent auction. I had avoided sitting, choosing instead to roam around the…
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…
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…
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…
Posted in Black history, Ephemera/Paper/Documents, and Health & Medicine
The thin paperback manual was among a group of cookbooks I had picked up at an auction. I bought the lot because it contained a copy of a book I already own called “Parasols Is…
