Mar 21, 2013 - Sale 2308

Sale 2308 - Lot 271

Price Realized: $ 840
?Final Price Realized includes Buyer’s Premium added to Hammer Price
Estimate: $ 600 - $ 800
(CIVIL RIGHTS--MISSISSIPPI.) Mississippi, the Most Lied About State in the Nation. License plate, 5-3/4 x 11-7/8 inches, stamped iron, painted deep blue-green with raised gray lettering; four holes for mounting; some rust here and there. Mississippi, circa 1964-65
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a rare relic of the civil rights struggle in mississippi. Plates like this appeared after Mississippi became associated with civil rights abuses in the 1960's. National focus had first come upon Mississippi in 1955 following the murder of 14 year old Emmet Till --- Till was said to have been 'flirting' with a white woman. A decade later after the murders of civil rights workers James Chaney, Andrew Goodman, and Michael Schwerner in 1964, and Viola Liuzo in '65, Mississippi became synonymous with what was wrong in America's South. Television reporting reflected a sense of national rage aimed at Mississippi. A 'push-back' from White Citizens' Committees, claiming that the state was being unfairly singled out, started to produce things like this license plate and other anti-civil rights propaganda.