CINCINNATI — Nearly 330 lots of historical ephemera crossed the block at Freeman’s Hindman February 27, with the focus on African American items. Complete results are available at LiveAuctioneers.

The sale’s top lot was a first edition of Their Eyes Were Watching God by Zora Neale Hurston (1891-1960), the prominent black author and civil rights advocate. Published by Lippincott in 1937, the book recounts a strong, independent black woman protagonist on a quest to find her true identity. It hammered for $15,000 ($19,650 with buyer’s premium).

The legendary ‘I Am A Man’ poster became a powerful and prominent symbol of the Civil Rights Movement after its use, originally during the Memphis sanitation workers’ strike, which continued from February to April of 1968. More than a thousand black sanitation workers in Memphis walked off the job after two of their own were crushed by a garbage truck compactor and the public works department refused compensation to their families. The cause drew the attention and support of Martin Luther King, Jr. The poster sold for $7,500 ($9,825 with buyer’s premium).

Two photographs of ‘Buffalo Soldiers’ from Company D, 24th US Infantry, sold for $7,000 ($9,170 with buyer’s premium). One of the images was credited to African American photographers J. P. Ball & Son of Helena, Montana. The image dated to 1902-1904.

A final highlight was an 1866 marriage license and certificate for a freedman and freedwoman in Talbot County, Georgia. The license authorized the union of ‘Cicero Vaughn (freedman) and Ellen Gorman (freedwoman)’ in holy matrimony, and was dated 15 September 1866. It hammered for $6,000 ($7,860 with buyer’s premium).