Feb 26, 2009 - Sale 2171

Sale 2171 - Lot 185

Price Realized: $ 1,968
?Final Price Realized includes Buyer’s Premium added to Hammer Price
Estimate: $ 3,000 - $ 5,000
TWO RARE RAILROAD STATION SIGNS (CIVIL RIGHTS--SEGREGATION.) Whites Only * Colored. Pair of painted wood segregation signs: 5- 1/2x16 and 7- 3/4x16 inches with stenciled black lettering on a white background; paint severely pebbled; iron hooks at the top, heavily rusted. Marshaltown, Iowa, circa 1930's-1950's

Additional Details

These signs with their stark black and white lettering speak volumes about the hateful period of segregation in the United States. American "apartheid" came to an end with the Civil Rights Acts of 1964 and 1968. Provenance: from a private collector who obtained them in Marshaltown, Iowa, where they had once been in use in the railroad station.