Feb 27, 2007 - Sale 2105

Sale 2105 - Lot 272

Price Realized: $ 4,560
?Final Price Realized includes Buyer’s Premium added to Hammer Price
Estimate: $ 1,500 - $ 2,500
A CONTROVERSIAL PRINT (MILITARY.) The Dawn of Hope. Broadside chromolithograph, 17 1/4x13 1/4 inches; creases where folded; some slight discoloration to the edges. Np, by B. W. Brittain, 1918

Additional Details

A highly unusual World War I lithograph with a more militant message than the usual military "uplift" posters of this period. In the center is a circular engraving of an older man with his arm over the shoulder of (presumably) his grandson, a sun rising on the horizon over an enormous field of cotton: "My Boy! I waited 50 years for the realization of Father Abraham's Wish. But in vain. Your brethren are now fighting to maintain Uncle Sam's liberty and in hopes for Equality and Justice for the Black Man." On either side, on pedestals are Abraham Lincoln and a black soldier with his pistol drawn and his fist clenched. Under Lincoln are the words "The Book of Justice and the Hand of Freedom." Beneath the soldier, "Uncle Sam. We are still fighting for that freedom promised us making all men of equal standing. BUT NEVER in the history of the black man has he been justly judged by all."