(CIVIL RIGHTS--CORONET MAGAZINE.) Read the Story of the NAACP. Hated-Loved-Feared---Respected. Point of purchase sign, printed on heavy cardboard stock, 13-1/2 x 10-1/2 inches; two slight indentations on either side at the center; some very slight wear. [together with] The August issue carrying the NAACP story. [New York: Esquire Inc., 1956]
1956 was an important year in the civil rights struggle: In January, Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. (who was leading the Montgomery Bus Boycott) had his home bombed by white supremacists; the boycott continued and motions were filed in U.S. District Court calling for an end to bus segregation; the United States Supreme Court decided in favor of Montgomery bus boycotters by ruling bus segregation illegal, and in December 21, 1956 African-Americans boarded buses in Montgomery, Alabama. Coronet was one of the first mainstream magazines to bring the civil rights story to the general white public. However, the article sub-heading reads: "Founded by a group of white citizens 47 years ago, this militant champion of the Negro is damned, defended and revered. . ." They were 3/4 right: In fact of the nine key founders, three were black: W. E.B. Du Bois, Ida B. Wells and Archibald Grimke.
