The gray metal machine looked innocent enough, but I knew that it was a remnant from an unhinged Jim Crow past. It didn’t have the power to stop anyone from voting, but the people who…
Category: civil rights movement
Fannie Lou Hamer & the 1964 Democratic convention
Posted in Black history, and civil rights movement
As the Democratic Party holds its convention this week, I’m reminded of a relief kit that I came across at auction a few years ago. There was a box of them, unopened, each bearing the…
Like the movement, John Lewis was beaten, bloodied but unbowed
Posted in Black history, civil rights movement, Ephemera/Paper/Documents, and history
You cannot understand the greatness of John Lewis unless you know the struggles that he and other civil rights activists endured during the 1960s. He was in his 20s when he bravely marched and protested…
Family artifacts that may be worthy of history & cash
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…
Limiting black voting has always been a Georgia pastime
Posted in African American women, Black history, civil rights movement, and Politics
I don’t even remember what the white woman looked like, but I do recall her attitude. I was a junior at Paine College in Augusta, GA, a city on the tip of the northwest corner…
Artifacts tell their own story of Martin Luther King’s life
Posted in Black history, civil rights movement, Ephemera/Paper/Documents, Photos, and theater
One artifact was a photo of Dr. Martin Luther King and Malcolm X, two men who sought freedom for African Americans in their own ways. Another was a large pinback button from the Southern Christian…
Ashtrays bespeak a different era for Howard Johnson’s
Posted in Black history, civil rights movement, collectibles, and food
I don’t have any young memories of eating a vanilla ice cream cone from the 28 flavors at Howard Johnson’s. My family could never afford to eat there or drop by for a bite on travels…
Survival kits no remedy for headaches caused by ’64 Mississippi activists
Posted in Black history, civil rights movement, Ephemera/Paper/Documents, and Politics
At first, all I could see inside the box were packets with a black outline of a city’s skyline. So I was obviously curious about what was in them. I pulled one of the packets…
1968 Phila. (Rizzo) proclamation targeting protesters
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…
When I saw the black and white police car in the front room of the auction house, I had a flashback. Not a flashback to reality but a flashback in spirit. The car reminded me…