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Sale 71
The Manuscripts, Collectibles & Space Auction
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Photo |
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Realized |
Lot 251 |
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King, Martin Luther, Jr (1929-1968) African American clergyman and civil rights leader. Book Inscribed and Signed, "To: Senator Paul H. Douglas In appreciation for the great work you have so unselfishly done for the cause of freedom and human dignity. With warm Regards Martin L. King Jr." on the first end page. Written by a youthful Dr. King, the book is Stride Toward Freedom. The Montgomery Story (New York: Harper & Brothers, 1958). First edition, later printing. 8vo, cloth-backed boards in a very good dust jacket.
King was ordained a Baptist minister in 1954. After Rosa Parks was arrested on Dec. 1, 1955 for not giving up her seat on the bus to a white passenger, Dr. King led a year-long boycott of the Montgomery, Alabama transit system (the subject of this book), which led to the Supreme Court's 1956 decision that segregation on public buses was unconstitutional. He founded (1957) and was president of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference, which advocated nonviolence and racial brotherhood. In August 1963 he helped organize the massive March on Washington, where he gave his famous "I Have A Dream" speech. He was assassinated in Memphis, Tennessee in 1968.
Paul H. Douglas (1892-1976) was an economics professor and war hero who became a liberal Democratic senator from Illinois, serving until 1966. Known as the "conscience of the U.S. Senate," Douglas made it his mission to get civil rights legislation passed. He was instrumental in the passage of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and the Voting Rights Act of 1965. Martin Luther King called him "the greatest of all senators."
Estimated Value $5,000 - 7,500.
View details and enlarged photo
| Unsold |
Lot 252 |
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Parks, Rosa (1913-2005) Civil Rights icon; called "The First Lady of Civil Rights" by the U.S. Congress. Autograph Letter Signed ("R.L. Parks") with a postscript initialed ("RLP"), 1¼ pp, on ruled note paper, 7 x 5", n.p., Mar. 17 (19)92. To Mr. Keyser, mentioning her famous arrest, which started the modern Civil Rights Movement, and the ensuing Montgomery bus boycott: "I do not remember your letter of a few years ago. It may still be filed or packed away, not discarded. I retired from Congressman John Conyers in 1988. The enclosed photo [not present] was taken Dec. 21, 1956 when the Montgomery Bus Boycott ended, not on Dec. 1 1955, the first time I was arrested. " In a postscript, she writes, "Two enclosures of my present activities" [not present]. Fine condition.
Rosa Parks, a seamstress and NAACP secretary, was arrested on Dec. 1, 1955 for not giving up her seat on the bus to a white passenger. Her courageous action sparked a year-long boycott of the Montgomery, Alabama transit system, led by the Montgomery NAACP and Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. The NAACP filed a class-action suit based on the unconstitutionality of the laws requiring segregation on the buses. An Alabama district court agreed that the laws were unconstitutional and the case went to the Supreme Court. On Nov. 13, 1956, the Supreme Court upheld the district court's decision and refused to hear appeals. An order was issued that Montgomery should integrate its buses on Dec. 20, 1956 and on Dec. 21, 1956, the bus boycott ended. The Rev. Jesse Jackson said at Mrs. Parks' funeral in 2005, "She sat down that we might stand up."
Estimated Value $800 - 1,000.
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| Realized
$3,000 |
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