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Frederick Douglass Calls for Equal Opportunity in New York (SOLD)
[FREDERICK DOUGLASS],
Newspaper. New York Tribune, New York, N.Y., February 13, 1862, 8 pp., 15½ x 20½ in. Disbound.
“A Black Man on the War, An Address By Frederick Douglass at the Cooper Institute” occupies four columns on page 7.
Item #22922, SOLD — please inquire about other items
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Congressional Copy of The 13th Amendment Signed by Abraham Lincoln (SOLD)
ABRAHAM LINCOLN,
Document Signed (“Abraham Lincoln”) as President, [Washington, D.C., ca. February 1, 1865]. Co-signed by Hannibal Hamlin as Vice President of the United States and President of the Senate, Schuyler Colfax as Speaker of the House, 37 of the 38 senators and 114 of the 119 Congressmen who voted for it. One of six or seven known “Congressional” copies of the Thirteenth Amendment signed by Lincoln and members of the Senate and House who voted in favor of the resolution [and one of thirteen or fourteen known copies signed by Lincoln]. 1 page, 20 5/8 x 15 3/8”, engrossed on lined vellum.
“Neither Slavery nor involuntary servitude, except as a punishment for crime, whereof the party shall have been duly convicted, shall exist within the United States…”
Item #21902, SOLD — please inquire about other items
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Eleanor Roosevelt Stands for Civil Rights – Her Four Freedoms (SOLD)
ELEANOR ROOSEVELT,
Typed Letter Signed as First Lady, to Addie Frizielle. Washington, D.C., May 13, 1944. 1 p., 6 1/8 x 9¼ in. On White House stationery, with original envelope.
The First Lady defends her advocacy of civil rights: “I doubt if it does any people anywhere any harm to tell them that you believe they are entitled to certain rights and you are willing to see them obtain those rights” and counters the writer’s fear of using mixed-race bathrooms at work: “if you have to use the same toilets and wash basins...[and] are nervous, there are certain precautions which you can always take.”
Item #22780, SOLD — please inquire about other items
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Illustrations of African Americans Freeing Themselves by Moving Toward Union Lines
[EMANCIPATION PROCLAMATION],
Newspaper. Harper’s Weekly, February 21, 1863. 16 pp., complete, disbound.
General Tom Thumb and his bride grace the front page, but “The Effects of the Proclamation—Freed Negroes Coming Into Our Lines at Newbern, North Carolina” is the most significant illustration, occupying all of the fourth page. Also, “Departure of the Great Southern Expedition from Beaufort, North Carolina”; The Rebel Rams Engaging Our Blockading Fleet Off Charleston, South Carolina”; “Hearts and Hands, St. Valentine’s Day, 1863” is the romantic centerfold; “Ft. Hindman, Arkansas”; “Iron Clad ‘Montauk’ Engaging the Rebel Fort M’Allister in the Ogeechee River.”
Item #H 2-21-1863, SOLD — please inquire about other items
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The Emancipation Proclamation
[EMANCIPATION PROCLAMATION],
Newspaper. Harper’s Weekly, January 17, 1863. 16 pp., complete, disbound.
Two black teamsters duel on the front page; the text of the Emancipation Proclamation is printed on page 2; the execution of 38 Indian murderers at Mankato, Minnesota on page 4, Thomas Nast centerfold: “The War in the West, the War in the Border States.”
Also, illustrations: Winslow Homer, “A Shell in the Rebel Trenches”; a map of Mississippi; the “Reception of the Authorities of New Orleans by General Butler”; “General Bank’s Forces Landing at Baton Rouge, Louisiana”; “Brigadier General James Blunt”; “Brigadier General John M’Neil”; and a cartoon of a black man celebrating his emancipation by declaring himself no longer part of a farm’s livestock, but instead a man.
Item #H 1-17-1863, SOLD — please inquire about other items
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“Black bellied Yankees” at The Battle of Fort Blakely
FREDERICK MORTIMER CRANDAL,
Autograph Letter Signed, to Julian E. Bryant. “Up the Alabama,” April 25, 1865. 4 pp.
A Union colonel, in command of the 48th Regiment of U.S. Colored Troops, writes to his friend, Col. Julian E. Bryant, of the 46th Regiment of U.S.C.T., recounting his regiment’s part in the Battle of Fort Blakely. “We have had hard marching & hard fighting. A week in trenches & a successful charge. The ‘Black bellied Yankee’ made their mark … everyone gives us credit for doing well & I think we did excellently well. … My loss was not very heavy, not over thirty all told. The other Regts in my Brigade suffered much more severely on the last charge, I being held in reserve & not being under fire but a few moments, they did gallantly…”
Item #21813, $3,000
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Jackie Robinson Reflects on the Importance of “the Negro Vote” in Nixon’s Loss to Kennedy (SOLD)
JACKIE ROBINSON,
Typed Letter Signed, “Jackie”, to Theodore L. Humes. [n.p.], November 15, 1960. 1 p., on personal letterhead.
“The negro vote was not at all committed to Kennedy, but it went there because Mr. Nixon did not do anything to win it. I understand his view but felt he was making a mistake …”
The famous retired baseball star – at that time an NAACP fundraiser and vice president of Chock Full O’ Nuts coffee – campaigned hard for Richard Nixon in 1960. Here, in the aftermath of defeat, he offers suggestions as to how the party of Lincoln might attract more future African-American voters in his (and Nixon’s) native California.
Item #20588, SOLD — please inquire about other items
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Discontent with Gilded Age Presidential Politics and the Influence of “the negro vote”
WILLIAM BEACH LAWRENCE,
Autograph Letter Signed, to Henry Anthony. Newport [R.I.], November 25, 1872. 4 pp.
A detailed, despairing letter on campaign politics after the reelection of Ulysses S. Grant. Lawrence observes the humiliating defeat of Democrats and “Liberal Republicans” – who united behind Horace Greeley because of corruption in the Grant administration – in the Election of 1872. Lawrence laments the elevation of personality over merit and virtue in elections, an observation which resonates today. He also expresses concern about how newly enfranchised African Americans tended to vote. “The negroes are naturally disposed to support those who are in power & whom they invest with superior dignity, on account of the possession of power. …the extraordinary denouement of the Cincinnati Convention has placed in bold relief the mode most unsatisfactory to an intelligent people, by which party conventions are constituted & which are readily made, the instruments of the vilest partisan combinations, carried on by men without character & without principle.”
Item #20020, $950
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Frederick Douglass to the Woman who was Negotiating to Buy his Freedom (SOLD)
FREDERICK DOUGLASS,
Autograph Letter Signed to Anna Richardson, London, Free Trade Club, Aug. 19, 1846. 4 p.
A uniquely important Douglass letter, written while still a fugitive slave, mentioning his desire to return to America, negotiations with his owner to purchase his freedom, and speaking engagements in London. “My Anna says ‘Come home’ and I have now resolved upon going home … I shall sail for America on the fourth November--and hope to meet the beloved one of my heart by the 20th of that month. Do not allow this arrangement [to] interfere in any way with your correspondence with my owner--as whether you succeed or fail good may come of the effort.”
Item #21062, SOLD — please inquire about other items
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Frederick Douglass Stands His Ground, Discouraging the “Exodus” Movement (SOLD)
FREDERICK DOUGLASS,
Autograph Letter Signed to Charles Douglass. Washington, May 26, 1879. 1 p.
“I have no fear of any permanent damage from the several attacks made upon me … on account of my views of the impolicy of Exodus as a scheme …”
Douglass assures his son that he has weighed and responded to the public attacks made on him, based on his opposition to the idea that African-Americans should organize a mass exodus from the South.
Item #21699, SOLD — please inquire about other items
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Four Years Prior to Signing the Declaration, R.I.’s Stephen Hopkins Declares His Slave’s Independence (SOLD)
STEPHEN HOPKINS,
Autograph Document Signed (twice in text and once at bottom), Providence, R.I., October 28, 1772. Also signed by William Barker, as witness. 1 pp.
“…keeping any of his rational Creatures in Bondage, who are capable of taking care of, and providing for themselves in a State of Freedom: is, altogather inconsistent with his Holy and Righteous Will…”
In a clear statement on the morality of slavery, Rhode Island’s Stephen Hopkins manumits his slave, Saint Jago Hopkins, because slavery is a violation of God’s will. Rhode Island would not abolish slavery through gradual emancipation until 1784.
Item #21073.99, SOLD — please inquire about other items
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Frederick Douglass Signed Deed
FREDERICK DOUGLASS,
Document Signed as recorder of deeds, Washington, D.C., 1881-1886. Approx. 3½ x 8½” folded. Sample Frame pictured.
While Douglass’s letters are scarce, documents signed during his tenure as recorder of deeds for the District of Columbia can be had very reasonably.
Item #20409, SOLD — please inquire about other items
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Georgia Constitution of 1798 Prohibits Both the Importation of Slaves and Emancipation by Legislation
[GEORGIA],
The Constitution of the State of Georgia. As Revised, Amended and Compiled, by the Convention of the State, at Louisville, on the Thirtieth Day of May, MDCCXCVIII. Augusta: John Erdman Smith, 1799. 36 pp., 4¾ x 8 in. Browned throughout; half calf over marbled boards.
“There shall be no future importation of Slaves into this State, from Africa or any foreign place, after the first day of October next. The legislature shall have no power to pass laws for the emancipation of slaves without the consent of each of their respective owners, previous to such emancipation.”
This 1798 Georgia Constitution, the state’s third, better defined legislative power, established popular elections for the governor and authorized a state supreme court. Unlike its predecessors that made no mention of slavery, this Constitution prohibited the further foreign importation of slaves into Georgia. However, it also forbade the legislature from emancipating slaves without the consent of their owners or restricting the immigration of slaves from other states with their owners. Practically, it also did not prevent the extensive internal slave trade from other slave-holding states.
Item #26589.99, $19,000
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