Autumn 2020 Catalogue

46 American Heroes & Leaders Autumn 2020 “If We Cannot Reorganize Our Society On A More Human And Equitable Basis, We Will Soon, As Citizens, Have Lost Any Ability To Reorganize It At All” (James Baldwin) 46. PECK, James. Freedom Ride. New York, 1962. Octavo, original orange cloth, dust jacket. $900. Click for more info First edition of James Peck’s powerful record of the first Freedom Ride, featuring a foreword by James Baldwin, with a laid-in CORE document signed by Peck. Peck, a lifelong activist, became involved with CORE in 1946. He joined its Journey of Reconciliation in 1947 and edited CORE’s newsletter for decades. In 1961 CORE’s co-founder James Farmer, along with Peck and others, began planning Freedom Rides to test the Supreme Court decision outlawing segregation of interstate passengers. Freedom Ride is Peck's dramatic account of the first Freedom Ride and the violence he encountered. With a laid-in printed CORE receipt (3-1/2 by 5-3/4 inches), completed in typescript and dated March 27, 1962, the year of publication. The document, which thanks the recipient for a “contribution of $10.00 to the interracial work of CORE,” is s igned by Jim Peck . CORE receipt and book’s preliminary blank with traces of tape that once held the signed receipt in place. Book fine; faint soiling, scant edge-wear, tiny bit of dampstaining to verso of bright near-fine dust jacket.