568
●
(RELIGION.) BAKER, GEORGE “FATHER DIVINE.”
This Home is
Wholly Consecrated to Our Sweet Father Divine, GOD ALMIGHTY in
Remembrance of his Holiness and Everpresence (sic) With Us. I thank you
Father.
Home-made placard, 19
1
⁄
2
x 24 inches; framed. Some cracks and chips here and
there, but overall in quite good condition. Shows a tiny photograph of Divine in the center
of a star made of some sort of sparkling material, as is all the lettering of this unusual piece.
[Np, nd circa 1940s to 1950s]
[1,000/1,500]
568A
●
(RELIGION.) BAKER, GEORGE “FATHER DIVINE.”
PEACE, RIGHT-
EOUS GOVERNMENT. NEWARK, N.J.
Home-made painted canvas banner, 52 x 27
inches on two wooden poles, 44 inches long.
Newark, 1967
[800/1,200]
In 1967 unrest in Newark’s ghetto came to a head when two white policemen, John
DeSimone and Vito Pontrelli, arrested a black cabdriver, John Weerd Smith, for improperly
passing them on 15th Avenue. Smith was taken to the 4th Police Precinct, which was across
the street from Hayes Homes, a large public housing project. Residents of Hayes Homes saw an
incapacitated Smith being dragged into the precinct, and a rumor was started that he had been
killed while in police custody. This set off several days of deadly confrontation. The followers of
“Father Divine” tried to defuse the situation by appealing to the community with signs such as
this. Obviously to no avail.
568A
