Mar 20 at 10:30 AM - Sale 2697 -

Sale 2697 - Lot 82

Estimate: $ 800 - $ 1,200
(BUSINESS--HOTELS.) Three pieces of ephemera from the business empire of Birmingham hotelier and banker A.G. Gaston. Folding postcard, ashtray and fan; minimal wear. Birmingham, AL, circa 1950s-1990s
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Additional Details

The A.G. Gaston Motel was opened by entrepreneur Arthur George Gaston (1892-1996) in 1953, as part of the national network of businesses offering lodging to Black travelers during the Green Book era. It is best known as an important backdrop for the Civil Rights movement. Martin Luther King and the rest of the SCLC leadership took up residence at the Gaston Motel during the Birmingham Campaign of April and May 1963--except, of course, for the time Dr. King spent at the Birmingham Jail. The hotel was in use through 1996, and is now part of the Birmingham Civil Rights National Monument. Offered here are:

Folding 8-panel color postcard for "The A.G. Gaston Motel, the Nation's Newest and Finest Motel," 14 x 5¼ inches folding down to 3½ x 5¼ inches; unused, minimal wear, circa early 1950s.

Illustrated ashtray, glass and decal, 3½ inches square and ¾ inches thick, circa early 1960s.

Illustrated fan, double-sided stiff paper, 8 x 7½ inches stapled to 8-inch wooden handle, minimal wear; produced for one of Gaston's other ventures, Citizens Federal Savings Bank of Birmingham, established in 1956, with a color portrait of Gaston as founder; circa early 1990s?

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