Michael Brown Rare Books, LLC 4421 Osage Avenue Philadelphia, PA 19104 215.387.9808 [email protected] [email protected] www.mbamericana.com List Number 155 Manuscript Americana, et cetera Terms and Conditions of sale: All items are guaranteed to be as described. Items sent on approval may be returned within ten days of receipt. Material herein offered subject to prior sale. Unless other arrangements are made, all invoices are due within 30 calendar days. Institutions and libraries will be billed. Title shall not pass until full payment is received by Michael Brown Rare Books, LLC. The usual trade discounts are extended to dealers upon a reciprocal basis. As usual a telephone or email order is advised to reserve any item of interest. Effective immediately we will no longer use UPS for shipping; shipping will now be done by Fed Ex or USPS. Please add $ 5.00 to cover shipping and handling expenses for the first item ordered, after which please add $ 1.00 per item. We accept checks, ACH, and the usual credit cards: American Express, Visa, Mastercard, and Discover. Member: ABAA and ILAB Copyright © Michael Brown Rare Books, LLC, 2019 North Carolina Slave permitted to carry a gun – 1 day before the Nat Turner Slave Revolt began in Virginia 1. (African Americans) Gay, William and Reeve, Samuel, Manuscript Document Rowan County, North Carolina, August 20, 1831 Folio, 1 page, formerly folded, and docketed, also signed by witness John H. Hardee, in very good, clean and legible condition. This document was signed just one day before the bloody Nat Turner rebellion began in Virginia, an uprising of slaves and free Blacks that was the worst nightmares of Southern slave owners realized. In the aftermath, few slaves, anywhere in the South, would have been entrusted with a firearm. Posting 250 Pound bond: “… Brisler, a slave the property of Wm. Gay hath been permitted by the County Court of Rowan to carry a Gun … if said slave Brisler shall discreetly and properly … conduct himself in the use of said Gun, then this Bond … to remain in full force.” $ 500.00 2. (African Americans) Murphy, Cleveland, Korea and Vietnam War Correspondence of African American soldier, Sgt. Cleveland Murphy, of Washington County, Mississippi, later of Indianapolis, Indiana, mostly incoming correspondence while he was serving in the 28th Transportation Truck Co., an all-Black unit serving in the Korean War, and later when he served in the 3rd Marines Division during the Vietnam War, dated 1952-1965 Collection of 307 letters, 1056 pp., dated 21 February 1952 to 28 December 1965; plus 179 pieces of related ephemera; Cleveland Murphy wrote 4 of the 307 letters, the other 303 letters are incoming letters while he served in the military from his mother, wife, brothers, sisters, cousins, nieces, as well as male friends serving in the military, male friends not in the military, and numerous girlfriends, or potential girlfriends. An interesting correspondence touching on many aspects of 20th century African American life. Murphy and his family, long residents of Mississippi, whose ancestors were enslaved there, were among the flood of African Americans who left the South during the Great Migration. The Murphy’s settled in Indianapolis, Indiana. Cleveland Murphy after serving in the US Army during the Korean War, chose to remain in the military as a career soldier. He later served in Vietnam. The collection contains an interesting series of letters from one of Murphy’s many girlfriends: 34 letters, 255 pages by Leona Howard, notable for their frank and disturbing portrayal of the conditions faced by many African American women. Leona chronicles a lifetime of physical, psychic and sexual abuse, the limited choices of poverty and constant struggle, while struggling to raise a family on her own. Cleveland Murphy Sgt. Cleveland Murphy (1930 - aft 1970) The letters in this collection consist mainly of incoming letters to Cleveland Murphy while he was serving in the United States military. Cleveland was the son of cotton farmer James Murphy and his wife Carrie. Cleveland’s father was born on 6 April 1885, in Washington County, Mississippi; he was the son of Charles Murphy. Charles and his wife Carrie were also born in Mississippi. Presumably their parents were once enslaved. Cleveland’s father James married his wife Carrie about 1905, when he was 19 years old, and she was 18. James Murphy worked in 1910 as a cotton farmer, on his own account, and was enumerated in Arcola, Washington Co., Mississippi. In 1920, the family is still found in Washington County, Mississippi, enumerated on Beat 5 and James was still a farmer on his own account, listed as a “general” farmer. The 1930 Census shows James still living and working as a cotton farmer at Beat 5, but now listed as renting. By the time the 1940 Census was taken, James was back to working as a cotton farmer on his own account. The 1940 Census shows only four of the children were living at home: John, Emma, Carrie, and Cleveland, who was listed as 9 years old. Arcola, Mississippi, is a small town in Washington County. In 1940, the last time the Murphy family appears there in the census, the population was 444, by 1950 the town had lost 7% of the population, and by 1960, the town had lost another 11.4% of the population registering just 366 people. Today the town is 95% African-American and likely had similar statistics at the time the Murphy family lived there. The Murphy family was one of the many African-American families who left the South during and after World War Two and migrated North for work, better opportunities and greater personal safety than the South offered, in what came to be called “The Great Migration.” The Murphy’s moved to Indianapolis, Indiana, about the year 1946, setting up house in the historic African-American neighborhood of Ransom Place. James Murphy died on 16 March 1951 after five years of living in Indiana. He died at his home at 629 W. North Street and was buried in the New Crown Cemetery in Indianapolis. After his death, his wife Carrie Murphy, moved the family further north, about four miles, to 2925 Rader Street, near the Crown Hill Cemetery. This area of the city had become somewhat deteriorated in the 1950s to 1960s and probably offered a cheaper place to live. James Murphy’s wife Carrie was born circa 1886, in Mississippi. She died on 14 August 1970, at her home on 3646 N. Capital, Indianapolis, Indiana. At her death she was survived by three sisters: Mrs. Katie Henderson; Mrs. Pearl Booker; and Mrs. James Webster, and most of her children. Mrs. Carrie Murphy was buried with her husband in New Crown Cemetery. There are 21 letters from Carrie Murphy to her son Cleveland in the collection. James and Carrie Murphy had at least eight other children in addition to their son Cleveland: Roosevelt Murphy was the eldest child of James and Carrie Murphy. He was born in 1907 in Estell, Mississippi and on the 1930 Census was found working as a cotton farmer day laborer there. By the 1940 Census he was living on his own, with his wife Ethyl and her two children. He appears to have perhaps married a second time to Bertha Lee and had a daughter named for his mother, Carrie Mae Murphy. Roosevelt died in 1963. Roosevelt wrote 1 letter in this collection to his brother Cleveland. The second son, and the second child, of the Murphy’s was Jesse James Murphy. He also remained in Indianapolis. He was born about 1908 and like his brother Roosevelt, he was listed on the 1930 Census working as a cotton farmer day laborer in Mississippi. Jessie wrote three letters in this collection. Louis, or Lewis Murphy, the third son and third child, also remained in Indianapolis. He was born about 1916. Louis wrote 1 letter in this collection to his brother Cleveland. John Murphy, the fourth son and fourth child, was born in 1918; and he too remained living in Indianapolis. John was listed as working as a cotton laborer in 1940, presumably with his father on their small farm. John Murphy was listed in the Indianapolis City Directory in 1954 as living at 2925 Rader Street and working as an attendant at the VA Hospital. Also listed as living at this address was his brother Cleveland and his wife, with Cleveland listed as being in the United States Army, their mother Carrie Murphy was also listed at this address. John Murphy wrote 15 letters to his brother Cleveland in this collection. Charlie Murphy was born 12 April 1912, in Leland, Mississippi. He was the fifth son and fifth child. He later moved to Chicago, Illinois, where he died on 2 August 1988. Charlie wrote one letter to his brother Cleveland in this collection. Sarah Murphy was the first daughter and sixth child born to James and Carrie Murphy. She was born about 1920 and remained living in Indianapolis. She married a man named Mr. Gray. Emma Murphy, born 1922, was the second daughter and seventh child. She moved to Michigan City, Indiana and married a man by the name of Mr. Morris. Emma wrote three letters to her brother Cleveland in this collection. Carrie Murphy, named for her mother, was the third daughter and eighth child. She was born in 1926 and remained living in Indianapolis. She, like her sister Emma, also married a man named Mr. Morris. It is possible these men were related. Carrie wrote three letters in this collection to her brother Cleveland.