Winter 2014 Auction Closing Feb 7
This lot is closed for bidding. Bidding ended on 2/8/2014
An extraordinary autographed page containing an early example of the Civil Right's Movement's heart and soul, Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Signed and dated May 23, 1957, this page dates from King's earliest years as the spokesman of the Civil Rights Movement. It was only a year and a half earlier that King led the Montgomery Bus Boycott in protest to Rosa Park's arrest for refusing to relinquish her bus seat to a white woman. The year-long protest ended in a victory but King, who emerged as the movement’s spoke-person, had his family's house bombed and was himself arrested by police. This amazing page was signed by Dr. King just days after he made his first nationally televised speech, turning the local Montgomery, Alabama minister and activist into a house-hold name. His speech, entitled "Give Us the Ballot", was one of the earliest milestones of what later became the Civil Rights Movement.
This remarkable piece of Civil Rights history comes directly from the autograph book of Walter Blount III. Walter III was the grandson of Walter Blount, Sr., founder of the Nyack, NY branch of the NAACP in 1928. whose dogged pursuance of racial equality was passed down to his son Walter Blount, Jr. After devoting five years of his life fighting for his country, Walter Jr. challenged the American Legion's racial policy when he was denied admittance to his local Legion post. It was Blount's close family connections with the early civil rights movement that led his son Walter III to obtain this signature dating from the most pivotal moment in the life of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. and the Civil Rights Movement itself. The 4 1/2" x 5 1/4" page, which has been removed from Walter III's autograph book, has been signed in strong blue pen "With best Regards To Faith Martin L. King Jr. 5/23/57". The signature is strong and bold and the page has taken on a warm color with age. A truly important signature of Dr. King from the most crucial moment of the Civil Rights Movement. Encapsulated by PSA/DNA and graded AUTHENTIC.