?Final Price Realized includes Buyer’s Premium added to Hammer Price
Estimate: $ 1,000 - $ 1,500
(PERIODICALS.) 3 issues of The Messenger, an important left-leaning monthly magazine. Pages 805-824, 852-944. 4to, 12 x 9 inches, original wrappers, moderate wear; moderate foxing and minor wear to contents. New York, September, November and December 1923
The Messenger was founded by labor leader A. Philip Randolph and writer Chandler Owen, both of them active socialists. It featured a mix of literature, semi-radical political commentary, less-radical business boosterism, and humor, with an emphasis on Black authors. It sometimes used the tag lines "World's Greatest Negro Monthly" and "New Opinion of the New Negro." Offered here are a special September Labor Day issue with a "Message to Negro Workers" by white labor leader Samuel Gompers, an exposé on "White Supremacy in Organized labor," and more. The November issue is a special "Negro Business Achievement Number," also featuring the first installment of the serialized story "Seven Years for Rachel" by the magazine's theater critic Theophilus Lewis. The December issue is sardonically titled "Peace on Earth, Good Will to Man," superimposed over a horrific color depiction of a Klan lynching by artist W.B. Williams. Inside, an article on "Manufacturing Toilet Articles: A Big Negro Business" takes a long look at Madam C.J. Walker's company (she also took out a full-page ad on the back cover), and a small feature on "Black Supremacy in Baseball" asks two decades too soon "Who are America's best players? Is there any reason why these Negroes should not play in the big leagues?" The magazine also had a running feature called "These Colored United States," with in-depth looks at various states; Mississippi, Florida, and Illinois ("Mecca of the Migrant Mob") are featured in these issues. Despite the magazine's popularity and importance, we find no issues at auction and none currently listed on ABE.
