Ebony makes greeting cards? That was my first reaction when I spotted them while walking past the card section of a local Target a few weeks ago. They must be new, I surmised, because I had never heard of them.
About eight or more of the cards appeared to be black and white reproductions of old Ebony covers, with the magazine’s logo in the upper left: The word Ebony in white against a red rectangular background. The first one I picked up showed a Tuskegee airman, his back to me, staring toward the horizon as planes flew overhead. The cards were amazing.
On the back were the words “Commemorative Cover,” along with details about the history of the Tuskegee Airmen. The series of cards were called Ebony Inspirations, and they were produced by American Greetings.
As I looked closer at this section of cards, I saw that there were other Ebony covers, including Hank Aaron, the Little Rock Nine, B.B. King, Halle Berry and Vanessa Williams. But there were more than just the covers. The entire section consisted of Ebony-inspired cards – most were your typical greeting cards but with black faces and warm messages.
It’s not often that I come across any old Ebony magazines at auction. I think it happened once, early on in my auction days, but someone outbidded me on them. So, coming across these cards was a real discovery.
Once I got home, I Googled the series. I found that Ebony announced back in 2006 that it had partnered with American Greetings to create the cards. The first line was introduced in such stores as Wal-Mart in 2007. The earliest card dated back to 1948, three years after the magazine began publication.
A 2008 article from the Baltimore Sun mentioned that there were 36 cards in the series, including Duke Ellington, Colin L. Powell, Rosa Parks, Billie Holiday, Ossie Davis and Ruby Dee.
The American Greetings website also offered the covers as ecards with music, including one with Ebony founder John H. Johnson.
How had I missed all this? Probably because I don’t send greeting cards as much anymore. My hellos are normally via email.
It was a pleasure to find them, though. I love vintage magazines. I’ve come across a few Norman Rockwell covers on issues of the Saturday Evening Post. The one that I’d love to find is a drawing of federal marshals walking Ruby Bridges to class. That Rockwell cover is part of an exhibit at the King of Prussia Mall outside Philadelphia. It’s there until March 14, 2010, and I’m going to make sure I stop by.
Wouldn’t it be great to have a similar exhibit of vintage Ebony covers?
Lately, much has been written about the troubles besetting Ebony and Jet, both financial and cultural. I do subscribe to Ebony, after having not done so for years. Regardless of your feelings for the magazine, pro or con, you can’t pass by these covers and not feel proud of the history that it recorded.
Ebony was there.
I was working a store conversion project yesterday and found about 50 Ebony magazine greeting cards in the old store’s card storage section. I could only purchase a few of them, but they were too good to pass up.
Good for you. They are a good buy.
Whenever I see the cards, I buy them. However, I would purchase a lot more if I could order them over the internet. I’ve looked. Lots of pr about them. You can even send them as e-cards. But, I can’t find a place to order them on line. Any ideas?
Hi Skye. Try contacting American Greetings to see if there’s a way to order them online or for any other suggestions on accessing more of the cards. I suspect that you can only get them at retailers but it doesn’t hurt to ask. Here’s a link to their Contact Us page, where you can find an email address and phone number for Customer Service.