African American Political History and Adam Clayton Powell Jr. in Harlem, 1968

Adam Clayton Powell

Handbill

Powell, Adam Clayton Jr., Harlem fundraiser handbill, 1968, documents Black electoral politics, entertainment, and community mobilization in Harlem during a turbulent period in Powell’s congressional career. Powell, a Baptist pastor and Harlem congressman, was the first African American elected to Congress from New York and the first from the Northeast; by 1968 he remained a nationally known civil rights spokesman after his 1967 exclusion from Congress and before the Supreme Court’s 1969 decision in Powell v. McCormack. The handbill documents grassroots political fundraising through a community event combining a Powell appearance, soul music, a dance contest, and cash prizes.

Alfred E. Isaac Club for Democrats. Handbill for Adam Clayton Powell Jr. event. New York: Alfred E. Isaac Club for Democrats, November 3, 1968. 8.5 x 5.5 inches. The event was held at Harlem’s Renaissance Ballroom, an African American owned entertainment complex opened in 1921 and used for music, boxing, film, social clubs, and political meetings. The handbill situates Powell within a Black public venue deeply associated with Harlem cultural life and civic gathering.

The Renaissance Ballroom’s history as a “Rennie” community institution gives the handbill added value as evidence of how Harlem politics operated through entertainment spaces, clubs, and neighborhood fundraising. Minor creases and small ink scribble; very good. A compact Harlem political handbill linking Powell’s late-1960s civil rights politics to the social infrastructure of Black New York.

Item #17800

Price: $475.00