30 Photographs of the 1957 Black Elks' Parade in Philadelphia

[Philadelphia, Pennsylvania]: 1957.

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A group of 30 loose black and white snapshot photographs, each measuring approximately 3.5" square, and dated "Sep 57" in print in the margins. Some mild curling and light edgewear, near fine. A collection of 30 vernacular photographs capturing a 1957 African-American parade sponsored by the Improved Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks of the World (known colloquially as the Black Elks). The images were taken on the corner of Spruce and Broad Streets in downtown Philadelphia where the Kimmel Center for the Performing Arts now stands. Featured are various Elks Club chapters, drill teams, marching bands, dignitaries in convertibles, and banners identify marching groups from New York, Brooklyn, and New Jersey, as well as signage and storefronts. The parade was a prominent event in the African-American community, not only in Philadelphia, but apparently nationwide. In the 2009 book, *African American Urban History Since WWII*, authors Kenneth Kusmer and Joe Trotter reported that an earlier parade in 1947 in Philadelphia "attracted ten thousand marchers and an estimated quarter of a million people" (p.255). A nice little collection of mid-century African-American images.

Item #407324

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Item #407324 30 Photographs of the 1957 Black Elks' Parade in Philadelphia