Page 155 - Swann Galleries - Printed & Manuscript African Americana- Sale 2308 - March 21, 2013

275 ● (CIVIL RIGHTS—NAACP.) Minutes of the Charleston, West Virginia
branch of the NAACP, 1922-1935. appoximately 200 pages, typed; bound in an old-
fashioned 1/4 leather ring binder; the covers of which are quite worn; but for a few pages,
internally cleanMUST BE SEEN. C HARLESTON, WEST VA, 1922-1935 [2,000/3,000]
WITH EXCEPTIONAL CONTENT, INCLUDING AN ACCOUNT THAT PARALLELS THE PLOT
OF “TO KILL A MOCKINGBIRD.” The Charleston branch was founded in July of 1918. This
record begins only four years later beginning with the minutes of the monthly meeting for
February of 1922. The secretary acknowledges receipt of a letter from Thomas West of
Williamson, WV a white attorney who tells of the case of Harry Lattimar, accused of the rape
of an eight year-old white girl. Rushed through arrest, indictment and trial, Lattimar was
immediately sentenced to death by hanging. And had it not been for West, who happened to be
present, Lattimar, would have most certainly been lynched long before he was hung. There are
letters to and from Walter White who agrees to support the branch, but adds that the National
office had spent most of its funds trying to pass the Dyer Anti-lynching Bill. Thomas West, a
real -life Atticus Finch, managed to get the case before the Supreme Court of West Virginia,
where the Court recognized that Lattimar’s rights had been infringed on. The case was kicked
back to the lower court and though West did save Lattimar from hanging, he was sentenced to
ten years in prison. The ledger is rich with information about the general state of civil rights
locally and nationally during an important decade of struggle. African Americans have lived in
West Virginia from the very beginning of the settlement period, but there are only a few larger
communities dating to before the coal boom, one of them, the Charleston area. The NAACP
was also a social center for the black community and these detailed monthly records provide a
record of numerous events, such as visits from James Weldon Johnson, and William Pickens as
well as musical and dramatic evenings. Loosely inserted are a couple of programs, one of which
is for a play by Alice Dunbar Nelson.
276 ● (CIVIL RIGHTS—CORONET
MAGAZINE.) Read the Story of the
NAACP. Hated-Loved-Feared—
Respected. Point of purchase sign,
printed on heavy cardboard stock, 131⁄
2 x
101⁄
2 inches; two slight indentations on
either side at the center; some very slight
wear. [together with] The August issue
carrying the NAACP story.
[New York: Esquire Inc., 1956]
[400/600]
1956 was an important year in the civil rights
struggle: In January, Rev. Martin Luther King
Jr. (who was leading the Montgomery Bus
Boycott) had his home bombed by white
supremacists; the boycott continued and motions
were filed in U.S. District Court calling for an
end to bus segregation; the United States
Supreme Court decided in favor of
Montgomery bus boycotters by ruling bus segre-
gation illegal, and in December 21, 1956
African-Americans boarded buses in Montgomery, Alabama. Coronet was one of the first mainstream
magazines to bring the civil rights story to the general white public. However, the article sub-heading
reads: “Founded by a group of white citizens 47 years ago, this militant champion of the Negro is
damned, defended and revered . . .” They were 3/4 right: In fact, of the nine key founders, three were
black: W. E.B. Du Bois, Ida B. Wells and Archibald Grimke.