Collecting Black Americana
Black Americana encompasses a wide variety of collectable items. Many collectors focus on ephemera, which often features stereotypical caricatures and other offensive illustrations. These depictions can be found on old postcards, sheet music, calendars, food labels, posters, puzzles and other early lithographs, all of which have become highly sought after. It seems that the more despicable the representation, the greater its value. For example, there are some very offensive postcards that originally sold for a penny and now sell for $200. A real photo postcard of an horrific image, such as a lynching, can sell for $500 or more. Currier & Ives lithographs depicting African Americans are examples of racial imaging that has become very collectible. An original 1887 Currier & Ives print such as "Darktown Banjo Class" will sell up to $300, depending on condition.
Black Americans were often pictured in early advertising, and many of these representations can be just as offensive. Such images can be found on tobacco tins, foodstuffs, soaps, sewing items, toys and just about any marketable product.
African Americans were also depicted in home décor items such as ash trays, wall plaques, ceramic novelties, cookie jars, salt and pepper shakers, cast iron banks, etc. Most people agree that African Americans have been the most exploited ethnic group in the history of this country.
Certainly, most of these items are offensive, and some might question if they should be collected at all. They are collectible, in as much as they represent a record of our past. Simply ignoring the past would be disrespectful to those who lived through those difficult times. Although these reminders can be very painful, they can also be an inspiring testimony to the strength of the African American spirit in the face of discrimination and inequality.
There is another entirely different type of Black Americana collecting. It is the collection that focuses on the struggle to overcome slavery and on the positive achievements of African Americans. This field of collecting is often overlooked by antique dealers and collectors. This includes slave documents, broadsides, letters, newspapers, books, autographs, prints and photographs. Items relating to abolitionists like Nat Turner, Harriet Tubman, Sojourner Truth and Frederick Douglass are extremely desirable.
With a little searching, important artifacts pertaining to great Black leaders such as Booker T. Washington, George Washington Carver, Carter G. Woodson, W.E.B Dubois, Adam Clayton Powell, Marcus Garvey and Martin Luther King, Jr. can be found. The realm of historical artifacts encompasses items from the time of slavery through the Civil Rights Movement of the 1960s. It also includes military heroes such as those who served in all Black regiments during the Civil War, the Buffalo Soldiers fighting on the western frontier, the Harlem Hell Fighters of WWI, and the Tuskegee airmen of WWII.
Memorabilia associated to sports heroes such as Jack Johnson, the first black heavyweight champion, or Jessie Owens, the first American in the history of track and field to win four gold medals in a single Olympic Games, or Jackie Robinson who integrated major league baseball, all command high prices. In addition to these well-known champions, there are numerous individuals whose names may not be commonly recognized, but lead the way for others to follow. Athletes like Isaac Murphy, arguably the greatest jockey of all time, who won 628 of his 1,412 starts including three Kentucky Derbies. Or Howard Drew, the first in a long line of world class African American sprinters to hold the title of "The World's Fastest Human". Other sports pioneers include John Shippen, the first Black professional golfer, and Wendell Scott, the first African American to win a major NASCAR race.
Negro League baseball memorabilia is also in great demand. Items relating to great teams such as the Kansas City Monarchs, the Birmingham Blacks or the Homestead Giants, and their star players command high prices. Players like Buck O'Neil and Josh Gibson who hit more than 900 home runs in his 15-year career; and Satchel Paige, perhaps the greatest pitcher in the history of baseball; and the Cool Papa Bell who could do it all hit, field and run the bases. Demand for Negro League photographs, tickets, broadsides, autographs, uniforms, bats, balls, programs, pennants, etc. is very strong.
Sheet music, records, photographs, autographs, playbills and programs of famous performers such as Louis Armstrong, W.C. Handy, Duke Ellington, Billy Holiday, Josephine Baker, Bessie Smith, Marian Anderson, Hattie McDaniel, Bill Robinson, Ethel Waters, Cab Calloway, and Ella Fitzgerald to name a few, are very collectible.