491

Lot 491:Black Historic Content Document,1862

Currency:USD Category:Collectibles / Cultures & Ethnicities Start Price:60.00 USD Estimated At:100.00 - 200.00 USD
Lot  491:Black Historic Content Document,1862
<b>Black History</b><hr><b>June 9, 1862, Document: “...Extracts from Letters Received by the Educational Commission of Boston, from Teachers Employed at Port Royal and its Vicinity,” Boston, MA, Fine.</b>
10.6” x 8.4,” four-page integral sheet, printed text detailing how Boston teachers working in Port Royal, St. Helena Island, and other islands off the coast of South Carolina, assisted the African American populations there--officially listed as “contrabands.” Fascinating excerpts of letters from the teachers, whose initials are printed at the end of each letter. The Educational Commission’s instructions were, in part: “To set the contrabands at work on the plantations, and keep them at work ...and seeking to lead them to form habits of cheerful, voluntary labor, in place of the constrained toil of slavery; to ...urge the obligations of truth, honesty, frugality, forethought, respect for the rights of others, and self-respect..., and to... teach them to read, that they might, as speedily as possible, be able to read the Bible for themselves...” Toned, worn pages, with tape repaired splits along the spine and horizontal folds.