Sale 2503 - Printed & Manuscript African Americana, March 28, 2019

205 c   (CIVIL RIGHTS—SEGREGATION.) “For Colored / For Whites” sign for a segregated bus. Lacquered wood sign, 4 x 9 1 / 4 inches, with stenciled mesh fabric lettering, and 10-inch painted metal mounting bracket screwed to top; minor wear and soiling. [Abilene, TX, circa 1940s] [2,500/3,500] The sign was designed to be inserted into a holder in the wall of the bus, designating the dividing line between the races. It could be easily moved in reaction to the day’s traffic. Provenance: Salvaged from the bus system in Abilene, TX approximately 15 years ago. 206 c   (CIVIL RIGHTS—SEGREGATION.) Notice: This Part of the Car for Colored People. Letterpress sign, 5 x 7 1 / 2 inches, on cardboard; some soiling, light creasing, two small holes punched in the top margin, a bit of dampstaining in the lower margin, 3 / 4 -inch closed tear in right margin. Np: Tennessee Public Service Commission, circa late 1950s [3,000/4,000] A rare survival of the Jim Crow era in public transportation. This sign would have been movable depending on the number of people in the car. The Tennessee Public Service Commission assumed that name in 1955—the same year that Tennessee passed its final round of Jim Crow laws. Among them was a requirement that public carriers be segregated. This sign would have gone out of service with the Civil Rights Act of 1964. 205