Mar 21, 2024 - Sale 2663

Sale 2663 - Lot 257

Unsold
Estimate: $ 1,000 - $ 1,500
(IMMIGRATION.) Papers of Ghanaian-American lawyer Theodore O. Asare Sr. of Harlem. Approximately 100 items in 4 folders; many of the retained draft letters on chipped brittle carbon paper, otherwise generally minor wear. New York and elsewhere, 1950-1961
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Additional Details

Theodore Owusu Asare (born 1903) was born in the British Gold Coast (which gained independence as Ghana in 1957). He came to Michigan for college in 1928, graduated from law school at McGill University in Montreal in 1937, and came to New York as an attorney in 1944. He was an agent for West African shipping companies, practiced immigration law, and was considered for the United States ambassadorship to Ghana in 1957. By 1961, he was serving as Ghana's ambassador to West Germany. He is believed to have returned to Ghana in the 1960s. This lot includes:

A thick folder of correspondence containing both incoming and retained outgoing letters, 77 items, 1950-1961. Correspondents include African business entities and prospective immigrants (Ivory Coast, Liberia, Ghana, Togo). A letter from Amsterdam News publisher Julius Adams recruits Asare to assist the New York State Republican Committee, 1950. His draft political letters to Adam Clayton Powell and Senator Robert Taft are included. African independence movements are frequently discussed.

8 birth certificates and other documents used by Asare while representing clients in immigration cases. Panama, Barbados, Jamaica, and St. Lucia are represented.

5 versions of Asare's short typescript professional biography, circa 1952.

A folder of legal documents. One is a 1955 petition for a young Bronx man to change his name, as "I am an ardent student of Moslem history and . . . have been known by this name among my friends," with the ensuing court order. Another is a draft memorandum of association for the Asare General Transport Company, listing his stockholders. A deed of Harlem property listing the H. Burks Realty Corp. is signed by Henrietta B. Asare as president, 1956.