[African Americana]:

$1,500 · Offered by William Reese Company · No longer available

THE NEGROES OF PUTNAM AND ADJOINING COUNTIES ARE INVITED TO ENJOY WITH US THE BIG CELEBRATION COMMEMORATING THE IMPERISHABLE VALOR OF OUR SOLDIERS AND SAILORS….[caption title and first lines of ... An unrecorded inter-war broadside, specially inviting the African-American community of Putnam County, Florida, to attend the 1927 grand opening of the large-scale Memorial Bridge in Palatka. Palatka was a hotbed of racial tensions in postwar Florida – the state as a whole was gripped by a large-scale revitalization of the Ku Klux Klan, and it maintained the highest rate of lynchings in the nation in the 1920s. Nevertheless, Palatka was one town which pushed back – there were two black men on the City Commission even as late as 1924, and Sheriff Peter Hagan (in office 1916-1924, 1928-1930) became known for politically and physically opposing the Klan and other proponents of mob violence.This broadside, printed during a span of years where Hagan was out of office, continues the town's legacy of attempted peaceful coexistence. The text begins by explicitly inviting "The Negroes of Putnam and Adjoining Counties" for the "Big Celebration," the dedication of the "Million and a Quarter Dollar Memorial Bridge combined with a great Armistice Day Barbecue." Held on November 11, 1927, the event included a parade, sports competitions, the Barbecue itself (serving "Western Beef," "Brunswick Stew," and "Palatka Baked Bread"), musical performances, and, notably, an oration by Dr. J.R. E. Lee, Pr

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