[Frederick Douglass (1818-1895)]. Men of Color, to Arms! Now or Never! [Philadelphia]: N.p., [June 1863]. 8 x 10 in. broadside/handbill. Signed in type by Frederick Douglass and 54 other African American leaders including William Forten, Rev. William T. Catto, Rev. Stephen Smith, Rev. J.C. Gibbs, and many others.

RARE BLACK TROOPS CIVIL WAR RECRUITMENT BROADSIDE/HANDBILL

A stirring broadside or handbill written as a direct appeal from the leaders of the Black community, chief among them Frederick Douglass. Its text is adapted from Douglass's editorial in the March 1863 issue of "Douglass' Monthly," where he passionately wrote "This is our Golden Moment...A new era is open to us. For generations we have suffered under the horrors of slavery...Let us Rush to Arms! Fail Now and Our Race is Doomed on this the soil of our birth." Emphasizing not only the opportunity to throw of the chains of slavery, Douglass underscored the chance to combat prejudice: "We say that we have manhood-now is the time to prove it. A nation or a people that cannot fight may be pitied, but cannot be respected. If we would be regarded Men, if we would forever SILENCE THE TONGUE OF CALUMNY, of prejudice and hate; let us rise NOW and fly to arms!"

This handbill edition was produced for circulation to potential recruits in the African American. A broadside edition with slight textual variations was also published, in addition to a massive 4 x 8 ft. broadside erected in Philadelphia.

Over 180,000 Black men served as soldiers in the Union Army with another 19,000 enlisted into the Navy. While the dangers of war, infection, and disease were omnipresent threats for all soldiers, Black soldiers faced the menace of enslavement or re-enslavement if captured. The Fort Pillow massacre horrifically demonstrated that even in surrender, when African American troops were summarily executed rather than taken as prisoner. African American soldiers even faced discriminatory treatment within their own ranks, and equal pay to white soldiers was not guaranteed until June 1864.

Very rare. Only 1 copy has sold at auction (Sotheby’s, Fine Books and Mansucripts, Including Americana, 19 June 2015, Lot 103, price realized $27,500). 7 copies are held institutionally.

[Civil War, Union, Confederate, African Americana, African American History, Slavery, Enslavement, Abolition, Emancipation, Emancipation Proclamation, Frederick Douglass, John Brown, Broadsides, Handbills, Ephemera, Printings, Documents]