?Final Price Realized includes Buyer’s Premium added to Hammer Price
Estimate: $ 400 - $ 600
(CIVIL RIGHTS.) Membership card for the World War Two-era "National March on Washington Movement." Printed card, 2 1/2 x 4 inches, completed in type for Joe C. Brown of Chicago, with stamped signature of A. Philip Randolph as director; light horizontal crease. New York, July 1945
Not to be confused with the more famous 1963 March on Washington, this organization was founded in 1941 by labor leader A. Philip Randolph to protest segregation in the military and in defense industries. The pledge on the back of this card balances patriotism and aggressive activism: "I support and endorse the fight of the United Nations to wipe out the Axis menace. . . . I support a non-violent but direct struggle by the Negro people to abolish segregation. . . . I am not anti-white but I believe that Negroes should initiate the campaign to win their unconditional equality of status for themselves. I will work for a Free Africa and a Free Caribbean." No related materials traced at auction.
