MEN OF MARYLAND
Inscribed first printing of this collection of short biographies of prominent Black people, as well as a brief summary of Maryland history with a focus on the state's Black population, written by a formerly enslaved man – inscribed to Black suffragist Addie Hunton.
Very good plus.
Price: $1,500.00
MEN OF MARYLAND
"If we have succeeded in bringing together such informing and cheering facts, with respect to the past history of our people in Maryland, as will stimulate a greater appreciation for the literature of the Colored race we shall feel that our task has not been in vain."
George F. Bragg was born to enslaved parents in 1863, and though after the Civil War he grew up free, his life was shaped by echoes of slavery. Bragg's family moved from North Carolina to Petersburg, Virginia, where they lived with his paternal grandmother, who was formerly enslaved by an Episcopal minister. Bragg took an interest in the church and attended a parochial school founded by a former Confederate officer, from which he was expelled in 1870 for the crime of not being "sufficiently humble" (Documenting the American South). After serving as a page in the Virginia House of Delegates, Bragg established the PETERSBURG LANCET newspaper for a Black audience. An administrative change at his former school prompted Bragg returned to seminary, and the newspaper became the AFRO-AMERICAN CHURCHMAN.
Alongside his political and journalistic experiences, Bragg wrote several historical works that centered African American history, including MEN OF MARYLAND. In this title, he briefly describes the lives and impacts of Black Marylanders such as astronomer Benjamin Banneker, poet and abolitionist Frances Ellen Watkins Harper, and Bishop Alexandre W. Wayman.
Bragg inscribed this copy to pioneering Black suffragist, educator, and activist Addie Hunton. After the ratification of the 19th Amendment granting women the right to vote, Black women were still routinely denied these rights. Hunton, a former organizer for the National Association of Colored Women and a participant in the National Woman's Party convention, "brought the issue to public attention" by pressuring white suffragists to recognize the problem (Quintana). The year Bragg inscribed this copy, Hunton had just published her account of working with segregated Black troops in WWI.
A later edition of MEN OF MARYLAND is noted in the bibliography of the Blockson Collection. Though OCLC locates more than 40 copies, many of those are in Maryland, a number are circulating copies, with many major institutions apparently lacking entirely. A terrific copy.
Read more: University of North Carolina, "George F. Bragg," Documenting the American South; Maria Quintana, "Addie Waites Hunton," Black Past; Blockson Collection, item 3377.
The Object
Baltimore: Church Advocate Press, 1914. 7'' x 5''. Original orange pebbled cloth binding. Black-and-white pictorial frontispiece. 136 pages, including index; partially unopened. Inscribed by Bragg to second blank leaf, "To Addie / With the sincere good wishes / of her friend the author / George F. Bragg / July 29 | 1920 / Balt Md." Binding with light edgewear and a bit of bumping to spine ends; boards with a hint of rubbing. A touch of toning to endleaves. Sharp.
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