Photograph and Memorabilia Collection

Significant moments in American history are captured in the vast Photograph Collection.  This fascinating assemblage chronicles African American life from shore to shore.  The Photograph Collection dates from the inception of the camera in the mid-1800’s to the present.  The Memorabilia Collection reflects racialized popular culture as it recalls the nostalgia and pain of the past.  The Memorabilia Collection also dates from the mid 1800’s.

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             World War I recruitment poster, 1917                1893 photograph of members of the 24th Infantry

              Titled,"Colored Man Is No Slacker."

                                                   

Original poster, 1858 for the Cake Walk Dance

The Cakewalk originated around 1850 in Florida.  The Cakewalk was the only condoned

circumstance for slaves to mock their masters.  The Cakewalk was a parody of the minuet

that poked fun at the exaggerated, grandiose mannerisms of Southern high society.. 

                                                  

Paul Laurence Dunbar (1872-1906), Writer

Paul Laurence Dunbar was one of the leading exponents of the Harlem Renaissance and the first

African American poet to receive national and international critical acclaim.  Many of Dunbar's poems

are written in black dialect.  He also wrote in standard English essays, novels and short stories. 

Much of his work addressed the difficulties African Americans faced.

Sarah Vaughn, Louis Armstrong, Billie Holiday and Howard Dennis, 1950

Photo credit:  Joe Schwartz, Atascadero, CA

 

Left to right:  Jazz on Central Avenue, Los Angeles, c. 1950.  The Bill Robinson Theater on Central Avenue, Los Angeles, c. 1942

   

Left to right:  Tuskegee Airman, WWII and actress Amanda Randolph, photographed by James Van der Zee, c. 1928

Black Troopers camping at Ft. Bayard, New Mexico

 

A. Phillip Randolph (1889 - 1979)

Organized the Brotherhood of Sleeping Car Porters

Daugerrotype photograph, 1987 with the caption:  "I ain't been borned very long"