A handwritten page from chapter three of Martin Luther King's Stride Toward Freedom: The Montgomery Story made $12,500 at Nate D Sanders on July 31.
King wrote the book in 1958. It details the Montgomery bus boycott, which began in 1955 with Rosa Parks' refusal to give up her seat to a white passenger and ended with the seminal Browder v Gayle ruling that showed segregation on buses to be unconstitutional.
 The page recounts the beginning of the Montgomery bus boycott |
The paragraph recounts the aftermath of Parks' arrest and the start of the boycott.
It reads in part: "Late in the evening the word got around to a few influential women of the community, mostly members of the Women's Political Council.
"After a series of telephone calls back and forth they agreed that the Negroes should boycott the buses. They immediately suggested the idea to Nixon and he readily convened in his usual courageous manner he agreed to spearhead the idea."
A handwritten letter from General GT Beauregard to the Army of the Potomac, which he had led during the first battle of the Bull Run in 1861, also sold for $12,500.
It reads: "You are now undergoing the severest trial of a soldier's life…
"My faith in your patriotism, your devotion and determination, and in your high soldierly qualities is so great, that I shall rest assured you will pass through the ordeal resolutely…
"Still, I cannot quit you without… deep anxiety, in the moment of our country's trials and dangers…"
Click here to take a look at our extensive range of autographs.
Please sign up to our free newsletter to receive exciting news about autograph auctions.
