Mar 20 at 10:30 AM - Sale 2697 -

Sale 2697 - Lot 92

Estimate: $ 600 - $ 900
(CIVIL RIGHTS.) Postcard satirizing the segregated condition of the South after Reconstruction. Printed postcard, 3¼ x 5¼ inches; minimal wear, faint dampstaining visible on verso only, manuscript note in image. Richmond, VA, 1907?
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Additional Details

This postcard shows a typical downtown street with an array of segregation signs: "Whites only" signs at the theater and restaurant and library and pleasure grounds, a factory advertising "Wanted! 100 Workmen, Whites Only," a courthouse captioned "All Negroes are guilty, Justice for Whites Only," a house for rent ("No Negroes Need Apply"), and a streetcar advising: "Negroes Take a Back Seat." A caricatured Black washerwoman in rags looks over the street and asks, "Who dat said de nigger am free?"

The postcard is not credited, and was never sent, but has a manuscript note in the bottom of the image: "W.B.G. Richmond, Va. 1907." The presence of a horse-drawn carriage behind the streetcar suggests that 1907 is a plausible date.

We generally avoid the genre of derogatory racial caricatures in these auctions, but this postcard attempts to convey a positive message despite its delivery.

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