African American Leaders

African American history and its leaders have shaped the nation and world. Bauman Rare Books presents these select rare books featuring Frederick Douglass, W.E.B. Du Bois and others as vital to acknowledging and honoring the African American struggle for freedom and equality.

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"SOJOURNER TRUTH STRIDES THROUGH AMERICAN HISTORY LARGER THAN LIFE"

(SLAVERY) (GILBERT, Olive) TRUTH, Sojourner. Narrative of Sojourner Truth, A Northern Slave. No place, 1875.

Rare 1875 edition of Sojourner Truth's powerful account, which inspired a nation with the bold "evangelic fervor and plain wit" that characterized her moving struggle for freedom and women's rights. This exceptional edition is the first to display her favorite and "most famous" portrait from a carte-de-visite photograph taken circa 1864, personally chosen by her to be featured in the original cloth and as its engraved frontispiece portrait. $25,000.

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RARE AND DESIRABLE TYPED PAGE FROM AN EARLY DRAFT OF THE AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF MALCOLM X, WITH A THREE-WORD AUTOGRAPH ADDITION IN MALCOLM X’S HAND AND 125 AUTOGRAPH EDITS BY ALEX HALEY, HANDSOMELY FRAMED

MALCOLM X and HALEY, Alex. Typed draft page annotated. No place, circa 1963.

Exceptionally rare typed page from an early draft of The Autobiography of Malcolm X with a three-word autograph addition by Malcolm X and 125 autograph edits by Alex Haley, handsomely matted and framed with photographic portraits of the authors. $12,000.

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"LOVED LIBERTY AS WELL AS DID PATRICK HENRY… DESERVED IT AS MUCH AS THOMAS JEFFERSON"

(DOUGLASS, Frederick) (GRIFFITHS, Julia). Autographs for Freedom. Boston / Cleveland / London, 1853.

First edition of a powerful volume of nearly 40 works by leading abolitionists, together in print for the first time, co-edited by Frederick Douglass and Julia Griffiths, containing the first publication in book form of Douglass' novella, The Heroic Slave, his only work of fiction, invoking the defining leadership of fugitive slave Madison Washington in the 1841 successful slave rebellion on the Creole, a core event in the history of the "revolutionary Black Atlantic." With engraved frontispiece and two full-page engraved illustrations, especially rare in original unrestored cloth. $7200.

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"AN ENDURING FIGURE IN AFRICAN AMERICAN HISTORY AND LITERATURE"

BROWN, W[illia]m Wells. American Fugitive in Europe. Sketches… Boston / Cleveland / New York, 1855.

First edition of Brown's substantially revised and expanded Three Years in Europe (1853), newly titled as American Fugitive in Europe with 12 new chapters, issued within months of his return from years of exile, determined to continue his work as a soldier "against the prison-house of slavery," a core work in Brown’s "substantial legacy," with striking engraved frontispiece portrait, especially elusive in original cloth. $5800.

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"WE OWE SO MUCH TO HER COURAGE, TO HER WILLINGNESS TO SPEAK OUT" (JUSTICE RUTH BADER GINSBURG): PROUD SHOES, INSCRIBED IN THE YEAR OF PUBLICATION BY PAULI MURRAY

MURRAY, Pauli. Proud Shoes. New York, 1956.

First edition of Murray's powerful history of her family—looks "unflinchingly at issues of racism, sexism and miscegenation… a microcosm of African American history”—inscribed by her in the year of publication, "November 25, 1956, For Mr. and Mrs. R— W— with good wishes— Cordially— Pauli Murray," in very scarce dust jacket. $4200.

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"THE PREMIERE ARCHITECT OF THE CIVIL RIGHTS MOVEMENT IN THE U.S."

DU BOIS, W.E.B., ed. Select Bibliography of the Negro American. Atlanta, 1905.

First widely expanded and revised edition, a capstone volume in Du Bois's landmark Atlantic University series, this seminal 1905 work, edited and largely compiled by him, issued same year as the Tenth Atlanta Conference, very scarce in original wrappers. $3500.

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HERE I STAND, INSCRIBED BY PAUL ROBESON

ROBESON, Paul. Here I Stand. London, 1958.

First edition of Robeson's powerful first book, inscribed on the half title by him in England with a warm and lengthy inscription, "All the best to you and many thanks for your kindness. Good to be here in your country, Paul Robeson Nov 1, 1959," in very scarce original dust jacket. $3100.

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INSCRIBED BY CONGRESSMAN JOHN LEWIS

LEWIS, John. Walking with the Wind. New York, 1998.

First edition of Congressman Lewis' pivotal account of the Civil Rights movement that transformed America, inscribed by him on the colophon page, "With faith and hope, John Lewis." To African American leader, Dr. Cornel West, "No other elected official in America embodies the grand legacy of Martin Luther King Jr., more than John Lewis. In other words, he is a national treasure." $3000.

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"FREEDOM FIGHTER, STEELY VISIONARY, WISE PROPHET AND ELDER STATESMAN"

SHAHN, Ben. Frederick Douglass IV. Washington, D.C. 1965.

Original large 1965 silkscreen print of Frederick Douglass, number 222 in a series of only 250 signed and numbered by artist Ben Shahn, based on a cabinet card photograph taken the year before Douglass' death by studio photographer Dennis Bourdin in Boston, when Douglass was on a lecture trip with his grandson. Shahn, who used his art to express the "indestructibility of the spirit of man," here honors Douglass' lifelong command of his own portraits as a weapon in "one the great battles in American history—the battle between racist stereotypes and dignified self-possession." A beautiful print handsomely framed. $2600.

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"BRINGS TO LIFE A VIVID PORTRAIT OF THE CIVIL RIGHTS ERA": MARCH, SIGNED BY JOHN LEWIS

LEWIS, John, AYDIN, Andrew and POWELL, Nate. March. Marietta, Georgia, 2013-16. Three volumes.

First trade edition, mixed issue, of the best-selling three-volume graphic novel, signed by John Lewis in each of Books I-III, with Book II also dated by him in the year of publication along with co-author Andrew Aydin's inscription, "1.21.15," and the signature of artist Nate Powell. $2500.

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AMERICA’S "FAILURE TO SET ITS HOUSE IN ORDER, TO RANSOM ITS OWN PROMISE, BROUGHT OUT IN HIM… UNCOMPROMISING ANGER, A DOGGED REFUSAL TO BOW"

(ROBESON, Paul). United States Court of Appeals… Motion. New York, 1956.

First official edition of Robeson's 1956 amicus curiae brief for the long-denied restoration of his passport, a seminal document in the history of constitutionally protect freedom of speech and the right to travel, submitted by W.E.B. Du Bois and others, declaring "to silence Paul Robeson is to immobilize an eloquent, devoted, determined and respected fighter for the full emancipation of the Negro people," with accompanying facsimile of letter signed by Eslanda Good Robeson, one-page document and laid-in envelope with typed address. $2500.

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"THE GHOSTS OF ONE ERA HAUNT THE HOUSES OF THE NEXT"

CHESNUTT, Charles W. Frederick Douglass. Boston, 1899.

First edition of Chesnutt's biography that "shows Douglass' influence on one of America's greatest Black writers" —a "double first" for Beacon Biographies, its "first volume on an African American subject" and its first "by an African American biographer"—a beautiful copy. $2500.

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SIGNED BY PRESIDENT BARACK OBAMA

OBAMA, Barack. Promised Land. New York, 2020.

First edition, first printing of the much-anticipated first volume of Nobel laureate President Obama's memoir, signed by him on the publisher's tipped-in leaf—"the story will continue in the second volume, but Barack Obama has already illuminated a pivotal moment in American history"—with 32 pages of color and black-and-white illustrations, publisher's deluxe edition with photographic portrait affixed to front panel of original slipcase. $1400.

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MINORITY LEADER, INSCRIBED BY STACEY ABRAMS

ABRAMS, Stacey. Minority Leader. New York, 2018.

First edition of Abrams' passionate yet pragmatic guide to "finding ways to prevail, while bringing others along with you,” core strategies that continue to inform her battle for voting rights, inscribed on the title page by her, "For A— Stacey." $750.

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