"ROBBED OF THEIR LANDS, AND STILL WORSE, OF THEMSELVES"

ARMISTEAD, Wilson. Tribute for the Negro. Manchester, 1848.

Limited first edition of the English abolitionist's major work against "the most extensive and extraordinary system of crime the world ever witnessed," one of an unspecified number in publisher's morocco, a rare association copy featuring the owner signature and inscription of 19th-century Black leader John Wesley Cromwell, born enslaved, who became a leading attorney, author and publisher, signed by him with his date of 1914, with the inscription honoring his daughter, reading: "Bought in London by Otelia Cromwell when visiting that city during the first month of the great war—a present to her father," additionally signed below by his granddaughter Adelaide Cromwell Hill. Armistead's exceptional volume features over 50 biographies of leaders such as Olaudah Equiano, Phillis Wheatley and Frederick Douglass, along with engraved frontispiece and eleven engraved plates including portraits of Equiano, Toussaint L'Ouverture, Douglass and Cinque of the Amistad, a facsimile of a letter signed by Toussaint and this limited edition's two additional places, original morocco with gilt vignette on the front board of a manacled slave with the abolitionist motto, "Am I Not A Man And A Brother.” $12,500.

"A WEAPON FOR POLITICAL AND SOCIAL ACTIVISM": VERY RARE ASSOCIATION FIRST EDITION OF ALEXANDER CRUMMELL'S AFRICA AND AMERICA, 1891, INSCRIBED AND TWICE SIGNED BY BLACK HISTORIAN JOHN WESLEY CROMWELL

(CROMWELL, JOHN WESLEY) CRUMMELL, Alex[ander]. Africa and America. Springfield, Mass. 1891.

First edition of the last major work published in the lifetime of the preeminent 19th-century "Black nationalist and Pan-Africanist," a leader W.E.B. Du Bois considered "one of his greatest influences… his 'guru,'" with this especially important association copy containing the owner inscription and signatures of Black historian John Wesley Cromwell—signed on the title page by him, additionally signed and inscribed by him on the front free endpaper, "J.W. Cromwell, Washington D.C." $6800.

WE "CROSSED THE CATTARAUGUS CREEK ON THE ICE, CARRYING JIM AND HIS COMPANIONS TOWARDS CANADA"

PETTIT, Eber M. Sketches… of the Underground Railroad. Fredonia, N.Y. 1879.

First edition of Pettit's vital early record of the Underground Railroad, dedicated to Frederick Douglass for "his great service in behalf of an afflicted and despised People," featuring numerous dramatic accounts of fugitive slaves, rare in fragile original wrappers. $6800.

"ONE OF THE FIRST PIECES OF HISTORICAL WRITING DEVOTED TO THE EXPERIENCES OF AFRICAN AMERICANS"

(AMERICAN REVOLUTION) NELL, William C. Services of Colored Americans. Boston, 1851.

First edition of Nell's groundbreaking history of African American service and sacrifice in the Revolution, issued in fury over the Fugitive Slave Act and defying America's persistent "selective inattention" to Black accomplishments—one of the "most useful and important histories of African Americans written in the Civil War era"—forcing "history to do right by Revolutionary War Blacks." $3800.

"MILLIONS OF AFRICANS HAVE PERISHED ON THIS SOIL OF BLOOD"

(ROSCOE, William) GARRAN-COULON, M. [Jean-Philippe] . Inquiry into… Insurrection of the Negroes in… St. Domingo. London, 1792.

First edition of the outspoken British abolitionist's revealing look at news of the bloody insurrection in the French colony, issued amidst rumors of a "slave revolt far greater than anything the New World had ever known," laying blame on the "cold-blooded" acts of the planters, published with Garran-Coulon's timely Observations on the Insurrections that called on Britain "to be wiser" with its own island colonies in fresh memory of the American Revolution, reminding its readers that America's framers were "themselves the proprietors of Slaves." $3800.

"VIRGINIA WAS NEVER NEARER EMANCIPATION THAN WHEN GENERAL TURNER KINDLED THE FIRES OF RESURRECTION AT SOUTHAMPTON" (FREDERICK DOUGLASS)

(TURNER, Nat) (HIGGINSON, Thomas Wentworth) . Nat Turner's Insurrection. Boston, August. 1861.

First appearance in print of white abolitionist Higginson's pivotal, extensively researched work on Nat Turner's 1831 insurrection, issued anonymously only four months after the outbreak of the Civil War, the first major work on Turner after the virtually unobtainable Confessions, here denouncing the South's response to Turner as a "Reign of Terror," especially rare in original wrappers. $3600.

SCARCE 1864 LINCOLN PLATFORM BROADSIDE,“FOREVER PROHIBITING THE EXISTENCE OF SLAVERYWITHIN THE UNITED STATES”

LINCOLN, Abraham. The Platforms. No place, after August 29, 1864.

First broadside side-by-side publication of the Democratic and Republican platforms for 1864 election year (Lincoln v. McClellan), clearly referencing slavery as the cause of the Civil War. $3500.

"THE TRUE BIRTH OF THE CIVIL RIGHTS MOVEMENT"

(BLACK HISTORY). Photograph, Panoramic. Fort Bragg, North Carolina, circa 1943.

Exceptional panoramic photograph of WWII Black soldiers of the 318th Combat Engineers, who served in the segregated 93rd Infantry Division that fought in the Pacific, returning home as war's end to a surge in racist riots and lynchings. $3400.

"THE DEMOCRACY FOR WHICH THE MEN WERE SUPPOSED TO BE FIGHTING WAS IGNORED AND RIDICULED"

MASON, Monroe and FURR, Arthur. American Negro Soldier… Red Hand. Boston, 1920.

First edition of the very scarce contemporary history of African American soldiers fighting in WWI alongside the famed "Red Hand," celebrated as heroes by the French and awarded the Croix de Guerrre with Palm, with frontispiece and six full-page illustrations including map, in original cloth. $3200.

"IN THIS BOASTED LAND OF CIVIL AND RELIGIOUS LIBERTY, WRITHING UNDER THE LASH"

STEWARD, Austin. Twenty-Two Years a Slave. Rochester, N.Y. 1857.

First edition of the exceedingly scarce autobiography of the Black Abolitionist, born enslaved, who became a leader in New York as the state's Black Americans made a "turn toward radicalism" and spoke out against fresh laws restricting free Black voting rights, documenting the brutality of his life in slavery, his fight for Black rights in the North, and his role as leader of Canada’s Wilberforce colony, with engraved frontispiece portrait and four full-page illustrations, in original cloth. $3200.

"APPEARED AT A CRITICAL MOMENT IN ABOLITIONIST AND SLAVE-NARRATIVE HISTORY"

LOGUEN, Rev. J.W. Rev. J.W. Loguen, As A Slave. Syracuse, N.Y. 1859.

First edition, first issue of Loguen's seminal autobiography, a core work hailed with Frederick Douglass’ slave narrative as "major touchstones of African American autobiography," affirming his "militant antislavery activism" as a fugitive slave and leading abolitionist who was viewed as the "Underground Railroad King," issued anonymously with his frontispiece portrait, in original cloth. $2800.

"THE WHITE MAN OF THE SOUTH KNOWS ALMOST NOTHING"

JOHNSON, James Weldon. Negro in War-Time. New York, November, 1918.

First edition of the electrifying response near the end of WWI by James Weldon Johnson, newly appointed Field Secretary to the NAACP, to a white Memphis businessman's article, "Negro in War-Time," included herein with its claims that the "Negro Press" presented "every lynching in its worst aspect" and promoted disloyalty by making the Black man "not as jolly, care-free and good-natured as he once was." Johnson's bold "Rejoinder" points to the thousands of Black Americans lynched long before WWI and declares the white "South will never get to the heart of this problem until it is able to think of the Negro… as a human being." $2800.

"THE FIRST WORK IN AMERICAN LITERATURE TO RELAY THE STORY OF AN AFRICAN AMERICAN ON THE WESTERN FRONTIER"

(BECKWOURTH, James P.) BONNER, T.D. Life and Adventures of James P. Beckwourth. New York, 1856.

First edition of "a classic of pioneer days in the West," the dramatic life of Black western explorer and pioneer James Beckwourth, born the enslaved son of a white overseer and an African woman, whose history, like that of thousands of African American pioneers, "raises a different lens to an old tale," with engraved frontispiece and twelve full-page engraved illustrations, in original cloth. $2000.

AFRICAN AMERICANS "FOUGHT IN THE REVOLUTION AND ALL SUBSEQUENT WARS, BUT THE SUM OF THEIR SACRIFICES STILL HAD NOT BROUGHT FULL CITIZENSHIP"

HEYWOOD, Chester D. Negro Combat Troops. Worcester, Mass. 1928.

First edition of one of the very few published records of African Americans in combat in WWI, authored by the white captain of the 371st, with photographic frontispiece, two large folding battle maps and many in-text illustrations, a handsome copy in original cloth. $1250.

"MEDGAR'S DEATH MADE ONE POINTCLEAR… I HAD TO CHANGE MISSISSIPPI"

(MEDGAR EVERS) EVERS, Charles. Evers. New York and Cleveland, 1971.

First edition of Charles Evers' complicated memoir of his brother, his explosive rage at Medgar Ever's murder, and his own resolve to continue his brother's work, noting—"racists can’t kill all of us who believe in freedom"—inscribed by him on the title page, "Thanks for reading my book, Charles Evers, Mayor, Fayette, Miss. 4-5-89." $1250.

"NEVER IN AMERICAN HISTORY HAD A GROUP SEIZED THE STREETS, THE SQUARES, THE SACROSANCT BUSINESS THOROUGHFARES AND THE MARBLED HALL OF GOVERNMENT TO PROTEST AND PROCLAIM THE UNENDURABILITY OF THEIR OPPRESSION"

KING Jr., Martin Luther. Why We Can't Wait. New York, Evanston, and London, 1964.

First edition of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.’s eloquent and impassioned defense of what he deemed “the Negro revolution." $1250.

"ONE UNEASY AND FREQUENTLY ANGRY BLACK AMERICAN"

ROWAN, Carl T. Just Between Us Blacks. New York, 1974.

First edition of one of Rowan's most controversial books, a very scarce presentation/association copy inscribed on the half title by him to the distinguished judge who early defied death threats to desegregate New Orleans schools, "For J— Skelly Wright, who had guts when it was most needed—Carl T. Rowan." $1200.