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

134 c   (BEAUTY.) Hand-painted wooden sign for “Miss NAACP and her Court.” Paint on wooden board, 21 1 / 2 x 29 1 / 4 inches oval; 5 nail holes, moderate soiling. Np, circa 1960s [800/1,200] The first reference we have traced to a Miss NAACP pageant was in New York in 1941. A 1955 parade in Detroit featured “Miss NAACP’s official car . . . surrounded by her court of young ladies” (Pittsburgh Courier, 21 May 1955), and the winners of local NAACP pageants were often attended by a “court” through the 1960s and 1970s. From the lettering style, we would guess this sign dates from the mid-1960s. 135 c   (BEAUTY.) Miss Black Mas- sachusetts Beauty Pageant 1969 & 70. Poster, 22 1 / 2 x 13 1 / 2 inches, in red and black on card stock; light toning and soiling. Boston: Fashionable Productions, 28 June 1969 [500/750] The Miss Black America pageant was launched in 1968 in reaction to the segregated Miss Amer- ica pageant. The poster features the finalists at the first national Miss Black America pageant, which had been held the previous September. Saundra Williams of Philadelphia, the first Miss Black America, is at center. 134 135