(AFRICA) Tyesi Julia Nichols Letter from an African American

Sale 2503 - Lot 107

Price Realized: $ 1,500

?Final Price Realized includes Buyer’s Premium added to Hammer Price

Estimate: $ 500 - $ 750

"THE PEOPLE OF AFRICA ARE ANXIOUS FOR AN EDUCATION" (AFRICA.) Tyesi, Julia Nichols. Letter from an African-American missionary in South Africa, with her calling card. Autograph Letter Signed as "Julia Tyesi, Missionary" to Helen Burrell of Asbury Park, NJ. 3 pages, 11 x 8 1/2 inches, on 2 sheets; folds, minimal wear. With original stamped and cancelled envelope from South Africa, and an illustrated printed card titled "Missionary in America on a Furlough," 5 1/2 x 3 1/4 inches. Middeldrift, Cape Province, South Africa, 15 October 1934 (postmark)

Set Alert for Similar Items

Additional Details

Julia Nichols (1895-1968) was an African-American woman from Newark, NJ who met the Rev. David Tyesi (1875-1937) at the Virginia Seminary and then went to South Africa as a missionary. This letter was written shortly after she returned to South Africa. It was written to an African-American teacher in New Jersey named Helen Burrell (1892-1983): "What a great help the books you gave me are to our work. The children are just tickled to death (almost) with these books. . . . Even the parents come for books & we have a night school along with our day school which enables the parents who work in the day to come to night school. Really the people of Africa are anxious for an education. . . . Those yellow books called Study Lessons by Frederick K. Bannon & Helen Ganey are such a help. . . . We need books on canning & preserving, poultry raising, butter & cheese making, in fact all books on household hints. . . . There is a tendency of some here to keep the natives blind, limit his educational opportunities, but if I can get friends there to send me books, we will upset any such plan." Accompanying the letter is a printed calling card with a photograph of Mrs. Tyesi and a short biography.