?Final Price Realized includes Buyer’s Premium added to Hammer Price
Estimate: $ 2,000 - $ 3,000
AN EARLY CHARTER (CIVIL RIGHTS--NAACP.) OVINGTON, MARY WHITE. Charter to the Members of the Reading Pa. Branch of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People. Their official charter, 20 x 14 inches, signed by mary white ovington and john shilady, both founders of the naacpsome chipping along the edges; paper evenly toned with a darker spot along the blank portion near the top; quite fragile, needs de-acidification and conservation. [New York,] 1919
A very rare, early charter for the Reading, Pennsylvania branch of the NAACP. The parent organization was only eight years old at this time. Both Mary White Ovington and John Shilady were among the original founders. Ovington was white, and Shilady black. Shilady was prominent in the fight against lynching. The latter was very much in the news in the summer of 1919, called the "red summer" for all of the blood shed in the numerous "race riots" in July and August. There were just 300 branches nationwide. as of 1919.
