Category: Autographs

A. Philip Randolph was an American labor unionist, civil rights legend, and socialist politician. Randolph led a 10-year drive to organize the Brotherhood of Sleeping Car Porters (BSCP) and served as the organization’s first president. Randolph arranged for Bayard Rustin to teach Martin Luther King, Jr. how to organize peaceful demonstrations for the Montgomery Bus Boycott  in Alabama. Randolph directed the March on Washington movement to end employment discrimination

On March 2, 1955, Claudette Colvin was arrested at the age of 15 in Montgomery, Alabama, for refusing to give up her seat to a white woman on a crowded, segregated bus. This occurred nine months before the more widely known incident in which Rosa Parks helped spark the 1955 Montgomery bus boycott.

As Safety Commissioner, Bull Connor became a symbol of the segregated south after journalists captured the violent aftermath of his instruction to the Birmingham Fire Department to put their water hoses on demonstrators and ordered the Birmingham Police Department to attack demonstrators with police dogs….

This postcard of Reverend Fred Shuttlesworth’s Birmingham church is signed by the reverend on the front and is postdated 1958 on the reverse. 1958 was a historic year for the legendary civil rights icon. In 1958 Shuttlesworth: 1) survives an attempted bombing of his church (after it had been bombed 2 years prior), 2) petitions for the desegregation of Birmingham city schools, 3) renews a lawsuit to desegregate the city’s parks, 4) begins hounding Dr. King to come to Birmingham for a massive campaign against segregation, 5) is arrested for sitting in the white section of a city bus, and 6) becomes secretary of the SCLC (until 1970).

I have never seen another Hazel Bryan Massery autograph.  Massery was the infamous white teenager captured on the front page of newspapers around the world (click here to see original front page newspaper offered in this collection) on September 04, 1957 when she verbally assaulted Elizabeth Eckford, an African-American, who was trying to enter Central High School (an all-white school) in Little Rock, Arkansas. Continue reading “RARE HAZEL BRYAN MASSERY AUTOGRAPH”

One of the most interesting confidants in Martin Luther King’s inner circle was Bayard Rustin.  When J. Edgar Hoover began a smear campaign to discredit Rustin based on his homosexuality (and therefore attempt to discredit the Civil Rights Movement), Dr. King distanced himself from him. To avoid attacks based on his sexual orientation, Rustin served rarely as a public spokesperson; he usually acted as an influential adviser to civil-rights leaders.  Bayard Rustin was a leading activist of the early 1947–1955 Civil-Rights Movement. He organized the first of the Freedom Rides (1947) to challenge racial segregation on interstate busing Continue reading “BAYARD RUSTIN AUTOGRAPHED 8×10 PHOTO”

I was nervous about asking Ms. Boynton to sign this photo of her laying unconscious from her beating, but she understood that I valued her sacrifice. In 1965, Amelia Boynton Robinson asked Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. and the Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC) to come to Selma to add power to their voting rights campaign. They accepted, and set up headquarters in Ms. Robinson’s home. It was there at her home that they planned the Selma to Montgomery March which took place on March 7, 1965. Led by John Lewis and Hosea Williams, the event became known as Bloody Sunday when county and state police stopped the march and beat demonstrators bloody after they crossed the Edmund Pettus Bridge. Ms. Robinson was beaten unconscious; a photograph of her lying on Edmund Pettus Bridge went around the world. Ms. Robinson also suffered throat burns from the effects of tear gas.The events of Bloody Sunday and the later march on Montgomery galvanized national public opinion and led to the passage of the Voting Rights Act of 1965. While Selma had a population that was 50 percent black, only 300 of the town’s African-American residents were registered as voters in 1965, after thousands had been arrested in protests. By March 1966, after passage of the Voting Rights Act of 1965, 11,000 were registered to vote.Ms. Amelia Boynton Robinson passed away in 2015 at the age of 103. She was portrayed by Lorraine Toussaint in the 2014 film “Selma”.

Click here to see autographed copy of Amelia Boynton Robinson’s autobiography.

Continue reading “Amelia Boynton Robinson Signed Photo”

  Diane Nash was part of the first successful lunch counter sit-in, she was a freedom rider, she co-founded the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC), and was involved in the Selma voting rights movement. Ms. Nash was jailed many times for the cause of civil rights and spent time in jail while she was pregnant with her first child; her crime was teaching nonviolent tactics to children.  Few civil rights leaders were as militant as Diane Nash.   When violence stopped the first Freedom Ride in Alabama, Diane Nash was insistent that the rides continue. “The students have decided that we can’t let violence overcome,” she told civil rights legend Rev. Fred Shuttlesworth, “We are coming into Birmingham to continue the Freedom Ride.” She later led all the rides from Birmingham to Jackson in 1961.

Continue reading “James Lawson and Bernard Lafayette Freedom Rider Autographs”

Four original Tuskegee Airmen have autographed this oversized poster (see wristwatch for size) for the movie “The Tuskegee Airmen.”  Among the bold signatures on this poster is that of Robert Williams.  Williams wrote the story for the movie, but more importantly, he was a distinguished and decorated pilot with the famed Tuskegee Airmen.  Most of these flying heroes have now passed away.  I aquired this poster and had it signed at the world premiere of the movie where several original Tuskegee Airmen were in attendance and agreed to sign. Continue reading “SIGNED TUSKEGEE AIRMAN POSTER”

This advertisement for the 30th Anniversary of “Bloody Sunday” and the Selma to Montgomery March is signed by 12 significant figures related to the Selma Campaign and the Civil Rights Movement in general. It is signed by the following: 

George Wallace (former AL Governor), Joseph Smitherman (former Selma Mayor), Hosea Williams, C.T. Vivian, Joseph Lowery, Jesse Jackson, John Lewis, Sheyann Webb, Benjamin Chavis, James Forman, James Orange, and Jim “Arkansas” Benston.

This program from the Noel Foundation Humanitarian Life Awards is signed by Ruby Bridges. The event in Hollywood occurred at the Beverly Hilton Hotel on December 10, 1999.

On November 14, 1960, six-year-old Ruby Bridges was first escorted to an all-white school in New Orleans by four Federal Marshals. When she enrolled, many white parents took their children out of the school. Because of daily threats, President Eisenhower sent Federal Marshals to escort her every day into the classroom for a year. Continue reading “Ruby Bridges Signed Program”

Signed program from the Million Man March dated October 16, 1995 says, “To my brother Chris, Help us organize us, Kwame Ture“. This signature was obtained from the Million Man March organizing committee in San Diego, CA prior to the date of the event in DC.

Kwame Ture, born Stokely Standiford Churchill Carmichael (June 29, 1941 – November 15, 1998) was a key leader in the development of the Black Power movement, first while leading the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC), then as the “Honorary Prime Minister” of the Black Panther Party (BPP), and last as a leader of the All-African People’s Revolutionary Party (A-APRP).

This is the program for the “Invisible Giants of the Voting Rights Movement Women’s Conference” dated March 3-4, 1995 and held in Selma, Alabama for the 30th Anniversary of “Bloody Sunday” when marchers were brutally attacked by state troopers as they attempted to cross the Edmund Pettus Bridge during a demonstration for the right to vote. It is signed by Marie Foster, Amelia Boynton Robinson, Dorothy Cotton, Evelyn Turner, Lillie Brown, Maggie Wheeler, Mildred Black, Elma Hawkins, and Betty Maye.

This is a collection of three signatures from Civil Rights legend James Meredith.  One signature is an autographed photo sized 4×6; another signature is on the cover of a program where he spoke in the 90’s; the last signature is on the cover of a booklet he sold based on his autobiography.   In 1962, James Meredith was the first African-American student admitted to the segregated University of Mississippi, an event that was a flashpoint in the African American civil rights movement.  Inspired by President John F. Kennedy’s inaugural address, Meredith decided to exercise his constitutional rights and apply to the University of Mississippi. His goal was to put pressure on the Kennedy administration to enforce civil rights for African Americans. Continue reading “3 JAMES MEREDITH SIGNATURES”

3×5 autographed photo of Civil Rights activist James L. Farmer.

James Leonard Farmer, Jr. (January 12, 1920 – July 9, 1999) was a civil rights activist and leader in the American Civil Rights Movement. He was the initiator and organizer of the 1961 Freedom Ride, which eventually led to the desegregation of inter-state transportation in the United States. Continue reading “JAMES FARMER AUTOGRAPHED PHOTO”

This is a signature from NAACP’s Roy Wilkins (signed one year before he died) on an “Official First Day of Issue” Cover honoring Harriet Tubman. It is postmarked February 1, 1978 and also includes a 13 cent Harriet Tubman stamp.  Wilkins has signed with a blue pen.  In 1955, Roy Wilkins was chosen to be the executive secretary of the NAACP and in 1964 he became its executive director. He had an excellent reputation as an articulate spokesperson for the civil rights movement. One of his first actions was to provide support to civil rights activists in Mississippi who were being subject to a “credit squeeze” by members of the White Citizens Councils. Continue reading “1980 ROY WILKINS SIGNED FDC”

Rev. Fred Shuttlesworth has signed this First Day Cover issued by the United States Postal Service.  Shuttlesworth was whipped with a chain for trying to enroll his children in a white school.  He advertised that he was going to do it and knew he was going to suffer for it (his wife was also stabbed during the effort).  His home was bombed with 16 sticks of dynamite by the KKK and he miraculously survived.  Shuttlesworth invited Martin Luther King to Birmingham resulting in the climax of the Birmingham Civil Rights Movement.  As a result, the 1964 Civil Rights Act can be attributed initially to Shuttlesworth’s efforts. Continue reading “Fred Shuttlesworth AUTOGRAPH on Segregation FDC”

This is segregationist Governor George Wallace’s autograph on an old black and white photo (5×7).  Photo shows condition (scuff on left cheekbone, wrinkling in left corner).

(photo on the right is not signed–used for reference)