Sale 2471 - Printed & Manuscript African Americana, March 29, 2018

330 c   (RACISM.) Set of original Real Photo lynching postcards depicting the “Burning of the Negro Smith.” 6 photographs in postcard form, 3 1 / 2 x 5 1 / 2 inches, two captioned in negative; moderate wear and a couple of light creases. With an early plain storage envelope marked with the caption in pencil. Greenville, TX, 28 July 1908 [4,000/6,000] Ted Smith, aged 18 years old, was accused of raping a young white woman in Clinton, Texas. He was arrested and brought to jail in nearby Greenville. A mob took him from his cell at eight the next morning. Rather than the usual hanging, they covered him under a pile of wood, doused him with kerosene, and burned him alive in the center of town, in front of a large crowd. The postcards depict the horrible scene, with the crowd gathered around the fire. One shows the wood pile, apparently just before the fire started. The last two in the series show Smith’s charred remains after the wood had burned away. Images available by request. 331 c   (RACISM.) Fleischman, Max. Letter discussing the Sherman Courthouse lynch- ing and riot. Autograph Letter Signed to his parents in Plainfield, NJ. 7 pages on 7 sheets of hotel letterhead, 9 1 / 2 x 6 inches; mailing folds and minimal wear. With original postmarked envelope, lacking stamps. Cleburne, TX, 14 May 1930 [800/1,200] The Sherman Courthouse Riot of 9 May 1930 was one of the most widely known lynchings of the Depression era. As usual, it began with an African-American man charged with raping a white woman. It ended with a mob of five thousand burning down the courthouse, hanging the charred corpse from a tree, and then burning down most of the town’s black-owned businesses. The author of this letter, apparently a young white traveling salesman from the north, reported on the violence in rather neutral tones: “I suppose you read about the burning of the courthouse in Sherman, Texas a week ago. They were after the nigger in jail. I passed thru there two or three weeks ago. It’s a nice little town & one would never think that people like them would lynch anybody. But some of these Texans still have pioneer fighting blood in them & a nigger must be taught respect they say, so they lynch once in a while.” “NIGGER BISHOP, WHY NOT KILL” 332 c   (RACISM.) The editors of “Who’s Who in America” decide to remove an A.M.E. bishop from their book. Mimeograph form letter, one page, 11 x 8 1 / 2 , with manuscript notes in at least 4 different hands; moderate edge wear and small hole in lower margin. Chicago, 18 January 1922 [500/750] A.N. Marquis & Company began publishing “Who’s Who in America” in 1899. Their business model was to publish short biographies of thousands of prominent Americans, and hope they and their friends would buy the book. In this case, they sent a draft biography to Joseph Simeon Flipper for their 12th edition, asking for his suggestions: “Should we fail to hear from you in time, the sketch will be printed in its present form.” Flipper (1859-1944) was a college president, bishop in the African Methodist Episcopal Church, and brother of the more famous Henry Ossian Flipper. Rev. Flipper did not take the bait, and wrote a polite note on the original letter before returning it to Marquis: “I do not wish a copy of the book. Respectfully, J.S. Flipper.” This was enough to anger the editors, who decided to remove Flipper’s biography from the book. One wrote a note for the files reading “Nigger bishop, why not kill,” followed by two others who added their agreement by jotting “Kill.” with —two Who’s Who draft biographies for other subjects, suggesting that they were equal opportunity bigots. One, for New York Attorney General Carl Sherman (1890-1956), has a note complaining “Here is another case, evidently, of a Jew adopting a fine old American name.” Another, for Buffalo mayor Francis Xavier Schwab (1874-1946), bears a note reading “Why this Bolshevik?”