"HIDDEN TREASURES… OF A SOCIAL, ECONOMIC AND POLITICAL HISTORY": FIRST EDITION OF THE HISTORICAL COOKBOOK OF THE AMERICAN NEGRO, 1958, PUBLISHED BY THE NATIONAL COUNCIL OF NEGRO WOMEN AND EDITED BY CIVIL RIGHTS LEADER SUE BAILEY THURMAN, IN ORIGINAL WRAPPERS
THURMAN, Sue Bailey. The National Council of Negro Women Presents The Historical Cookbook of the American Negro. Washington, D.C.: Corporate Press, 1958. Octavo, original pictorial orange paper wrappers, original black plastic spiral binding; pp. (x), 144 (4).
First edition, first printing of this celebration of the rich diversity of African American food, culture and history, edited and compiled by African American historian Sue Bailey Thurman, with tantalizing recipes for favorites such Cracklin' Bread and Okra Gumbo, for Mugwump in a Hole from the time of Frederick Douglass, and for Minute Men Pudding in honor of Peter Salem who fought at the Battle of Bunker Hill, a splendid copy in original wrappers.
The Historical Cookbook uniquely blends African American history with hundreds of delicious recipes as it pays tribute to leaders such as Frederick Douglass and Sojourner Truth, along with notables such as Peter Salem who fought at the Battle of Bunker Hill. Published in an era when Jim Crow was still pervasive and featuring a cover design by Meta Warrick Fuller, the book was compiled and edited by historian and journalist Sue Bailey Thurman who, in 1936, "was the first black woman to have an audience with human rights leader Mahatma Gandhi" and co-founded the National Council of Negro Women (NCNW), which published this work (Carney Smith, Black Firsts). She also "founded the AfraAmerican Woman's Journal… and the Boston Museum of African American History to preserve the African Meeting House, site of Boston's first black church" (Azaransky, Worldwide Struggle).
Bailey Thurman and her fellow contributors gave this extraordinary Cookbook a proud foundation in African American history. Favorites include James Weldon Johnson's much-loved "Watermelon Rind Pickles," a recipe for "Booker T.—Margaret Murray Washington Anniversary Wedding Cake," noting should be served with "a lighted sugar lump… [and] brought flaming to the table," and a recipe for "June Commencement Soup" by Bailey Thurman's husband, famed African American civil rights leader and theologian Howard Thurman. The book's recipes are skillfully interwoven with biographies and "photos, drawings, advertisements, songs and speeches relevant to African American history… a quilt depicting Harriet Tubman… the words to James Weldon Johnson's hymn 'Lift Every Voice and Sing' and the U.N. Universal Declaration of Human Rights… The Historical Cookbook exudes a sense of what, in years following its publication, would be called 'black pride'" (Bower, Introduction to 2000 edition, xii-xix). First edition with "First Printing 1958" on title page. Copies with "Advisory Committee" on title page verso, "Dedication" on Foreword verso, and monthly table of contents at front (this copy), or with "Advisory Committee" and "Dedication" as separate leaves, and monthly table of content at rear; no priority established. Foreword by Bailey Thurman. Trace of small bookseller ticket removal.
A fine copy.