Franklington, North Carolina: 1884.
Price: $850.00
Unbound. Autograph Postcard Signed. Measuring approximately 3" x 5". Dated November 26, 1884 and postmarked Franklington, North Carolina. Card with modest wear and one tiny tear, ink lightened but legible, very good. A kind postcard to "Mrs. E. Williams" of Philadelphia, thanking her for sending materials to the school and commenting on the current number of students: "We have 126 pupils and think we will have about 300 during the present school year. I would like to write you a long letter but am pressed for time... Hoping you will take the will for the deed... Very Respectfully, M. A. Hopkins." The postcard was written shortly before Hopkins became Minister (Ambassador) to Liberia—he is reportedly the first formerly enslaved person to be so appointed—and only two years before his untimely death at age 40. Hopkins was born into slavery in Virginia but escaped to freedom during the Civil War. He graduated from Lincoln University in 1874 and was the first African-American graduate of New York's Auburn Seminary, in 1877. In 1879 he established Albion Academy, a co-educational school for Black students in Franklinton, North Carolina. He died in Monrovia of a tropical disease while serving as Resident Minister and Consul General to Liberia. An uncommon signature.
Item #517365
