Mar 30, 2023 - Sale 2631

Sale 2631 - Lot 156

Price Realized: $ 469
?Final Price Realized includes Buyer’s Premium added to Hammer Price
Estimate: $ 600 - $ 900
(CIVIL RIGHTS.) Papers of a Prince Hall Masonic lodge in Philadelphia, including correspondence regarding segregated hotels. 26 items in one folder; generally minor wear, a few of the letters stapled or worn at edges. Various places, 1949-1983
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Additional Details

The earliest material in this lot is a packet of 5 letters regarding hotel accommodations for a Masonic convention in Detroit. Two of the letters explicitly discuss the segregation of that city's hotels. On 1 July 1949, Heywood Gantt of Detroit wrote to W. McKinley Newby of Philadelphia: "We checked on the Sheraton Hotel as to accommodations for the convention; we regret to say, this hotel is not accepting colored patrons. In fact, we were unable to get reservations in any of the white hotels, as the month of August is their heaviest month, and I understand several white conventions are meeting here also." On 12 July 1949, Newby wrote to Waynard Jones of Detroit: "I am enclosing a check for ten dollars to cover deposit for reservations wherever you may secure them. I understand that the white hotels will not house us and again I hear otherwise. The Sheratin has favored us in many cities." Another letter is dated 9 June 1949 on the letterhead of the Gotham Hotel, the most renowned Black hotel in Detroit--which was regretfully booked up.

Also included are 11 retained carbon letters from 1958, 4 mimeograph documents from the James W. Grant Lodge of Philadelphia dated 1977-1983; and 6 other pieces of ephemera from various Philadelphia fraternal groups, 1966-1983.