(CIVIL RIGHTS FRATERNAL) WILLIAMS G GRANT A Warning to All

Sale 2342 - Lot 229

Price Realized: $ 688

?Final Price Realized includes Buyer’s Premium added to Hammer Price

Estimate: $ 1,000 - $ 1,500

(CIVIL RIGHTS--FRATERNAL) WILLIAMS, G. GRANT. A Warning to All Colored Secret Organizations. Are We to Be 'Jim Crowed' Here? Broadside, 17-3/4 x 9 inches; creases where folded; a couple of short splits at the folds, but altogether whole; paper evenly toned. Philadelphia, 1910

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The author of this broadside was the outspoken editor of the African American newspaper The Philadelphia Tribune, G. Grant Williams. Williams said in an editorial in the fall of 1917, after threats of racial attacks, 'Stand your ground like men. Be quiet, be decent, maintain wholesome surroundings, and if you are attacked, defend yourselves like American citizens.' The subject of this broadside was an attempt by the all white Elks to have the State Legislatures enact laws that would prevent blacks from forming black lodges of the Elks as well as virtually any and all such organizations—which would have included the Masons as well. This did not happen. In fact the black branch of the Elks (already formed in 1898 as the Improved Benevolent and Protective Order of the Elks of the World) was wise enough to copyright all of the designs of the paraphenalia of the secret organization, making it necessary for the white lodges to obtain permission from their black brothers for the use of same. A delicious revenge.