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

HISTORY LOTS 278 - 284 278 278 c   (HISTORY.) Patterson, A.E. The Possibilities of the American Negro, with Illustrations and Biographies. 52 portrait illustrations. [4], 286, [5] pages. 8vo, needs binding; minor toning and minimal wear to contents. Cairo, IL: Cairo Standard Publishing, 1903 [500/750] An interesting and virtually unknown compendium of biography and history by a young Illinois newspaper publisher and attorney named Adam Edward Patterson (1876-1949). The author’s introduction explains that “I have purposely omitted making mention of the familiar characters of our race . . . and given their place in this volume to new faces not less worthy of emulation.” Historical essays are interspersed with portraits and short biographies of people like Miss Verda McClure, a piano and violin teacher in Carbondale, IL; and A.A. Martin, Jr., a recently married young business owner in Montana. The author Patterson later went on to serve as the first African-American Judge Advocate in the American military, and was active in Chicago politics after the war. Not in Work, Blockson, or Afro-Americana. 4 copies in OCLC, and none known at auction. 279 c   (HISTORY.) Pair of Congressional slip bills on African-American history. Each about 10 1 / 2 x 7 inches, unbound; 1965 piece with punch holes and wear on top edge. Washington, 1911 and 1965 [300/400] Two pieces of proposed legislation, printed for the consideration of Congress. “A Bill Providing for the Celebration of the Semicentennial Anniversary of the Act of Emancipation.” 5 pages, 6 April 1911. This bill was later passed in April 1912 * “A Bill to Provide for the Establishment of the Negro History Museum Commission.” 3 pages, 26 August 1965. The first proposed legislation to create a national African-American museum. It was not passed, and the National Museum of African American History and Culture did not open until 2016.