?Final Price Realized includes Buyer’s Premium added to Hammer Price
Estimate: $ 4,000 - $ 6,000
"Homosexuals are American Citizens Too" sign from Philadelphia's Annual Reminder march. Ink on cardboard. 705x559 mm; 27 3/4 x 22 inches, taped to another sheet said to bear the same text on verso; 4 staple holes with minor rust staining at edges, other minor wear and staining consistent with use. Not examined out of modern archival frame. [Philadelphia, 1969?].
Annual gay rights marches were held in front of Philadelphia's Independence Hall every year on the Fourth of July from 1965 to 1969. These "Annual Reminder" days were among the first organized gay rights protests in the United States, with a focus on equal employment opportunity. The 1969 march was the largest ever with 150 participants, drawing on the excitement of the previous week's Stonewall Uprising.
Printed copies of this sign can be seen in the hands of picketers at the 1969 Annual Reminder Day in several photographs by Nancy Tucker held by the National Constitution Center and in the Barbara Gittings Collection at the New York Public Library. Two copies can also be seen in the 2004 documentary "Gay Pioneers," which also shows Frank Kameny with his collection of Annual Reminder Day picket signs (although not this one). Provenance: Gift from the pioneering activist Frank Kameny (1925-2011) to the consignor.
