How History Unfolds on Paper: Important Americana from the Eric C. Caren Collection, Part X

Philadelphia, October 9, 1966. Printed handbill on pink paper: "Come to the Mass Civil Rights Rally Hear Dr. Martin Luther King...Mr. James Meredith...On Sunday, October 9, 1966-7:00 P.M. at The Arena 46th and Market Street..." Wear along edges; small holes in bottom right. 8 1/2 x 5 1/2 in. (216 x 140 mm).

Sponsored by the Interfaith Interracial Council, the Sunday, October 9, 1966 civil rights rally was held at The Arena in West Philadelphia, and attracted 1,500 attendees to hear Dr. King speak. Accompanying King at this rally was James Meredith, who in 1962 became the first African-American to integrate the University of Mississippi. His admission resulted in the Ole Miss Riot which had to be quelled by President Kennedy sending in 30,000 troops, the largest mobilization for a single instance in the history of the United States.

On June 6, 1966 Meredith began a 220-mile "March Against Fear" from Memphis to Jackson, Mississippi to highlight continuing racial discrimination in the South; he was joined by numerous civil rights leaders including Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. and Stokely Carmichael. Meredith was shot on the second day, though he had recovered enough to rejoin the march before it reached Jackson on June 26. Meredith's presence at this rally was one of the great draws, having come so close to death only four months before.

Lot includes a group of five items related to the Civil Rights Movement, including: a Saturday Evening Post poster signed by James Meredith, "My Ordeal In Oxford, ca. 1962; and four black and white press phographs, deciptiing mourners at the tomb of Malcom X, a group of the Little Rock Nine holding their diplomas, a sketch of the damage cause in Martin Luther King Jr,'s assasinsation, and scenes from the Apollo Theater.