Offered for sale by 'A.Adebayo, bookseller' - for more information please contact Andrew via email at adebayobookco@gmail.com

[Afro-Americana]. [Martin Luther KING, Jr]. [THE BROTHERS].

This lot includes

[THE BROTHERS]. [Original press photograph of The Brothers at Martin Luther King vigil in Academy Park]. N.p.: N.p., 1968.

Unbound. Original black-and-white gelatin silver photographic print. Measuring approximately 7 by 9 inches. Brief holograph annotations at verso. A few light editing marks to image. Slight wear, creasing. About Very Good overall.

Scarce gelatin silver press photograph taken April 5, 1968 (though undated)—the morning following Martin Luther King Jr.'s assassination. Features 'brethren' Clarence Newton and Carl Jones amid The Brothers' Albany community vigil for King in Academy Park, with the NYC Board of Appeals building at background.

The event was mournful, but not peaceful, as The Brothers' usual nonviolent action met with feral hostility. Transcribed from their April 18 - May 1, 1968 issue of The Albany Liberator:

"The April 5 all night vigil for Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. resulted in a beating of one member of the Brothers and the arrest of a second. ¶ About 4:30 a.m., Peter Jones was returning to Academy Park after having picked up coffee for participants in the vigil. Four white youths jumped from a car, grabbed Jones and asked him where Leon (Van Dyke) was. Two of the youths held his arms while another kicked him in the thigh. Then they began beating him with a lead pipe. ¶ Apparently the white hoodlums were looking for Leon Van Dyke, for they attacked Jones saying, "We're going to show Leon some white power." Later they told Jones to "tell Leon." ¶ The attack ended abruptly when a passing car stopped. As soon as the car slowed down, the white men jumped into their own car and drove off. ¶ Jones was treated later that morning at the Albany Medical Center. Insult was aded to injury by the fact that Jones was made to sit for almost three hours before he received treatment for a dislocated shoulder and bruises. ¶ William Gibson was arrested shortly after seven a.m. the same morning. He was charged with attaching a sign on an Albany Police Department car. The sign read "King died for non-violence. Did you leave us a choice?" ¶ Gibson was also charged with resisting arrest and bail was set for $500 on each count. The Brothers suggested that the cause of the excessive bail was due to the fact that Gibson opposed the machine's candidate for 7th ward alderman in last November's election. ¶ Participants in the vigil indicated that the police "had been waiting around all night to arrest someone." The police call over Gibson's alleged sign-placing brought at least six police cars to the front of the Court of Appeals building where Gibson was arrested. ¶ Attorney George Harder has been granted a jury trial in Gibson's case. Trial date has been set for May 15 in Albany Police Court on Eagle St." ("Brothers Stage All Night Vigil for King, Nightriders Attack Jones, Gibson Arrested", from The Albany Liberator, Vol. 2 No. 5, April 18-May 1. 1968.)

/// and ///

[THE BROTHERS]. Jack MADIGAN (photographer). TIMES UNION (publisher). [Three original press photographs of The Brothers]. Albany: Times Union, 1967.

Unbound. Three original black-and-white gelatin silver photographic prints. Measuring approximately 7 by 9 inches. News agency date stamp, holograph annotations, and brief typed notes at verso. Printed caption overlay mounted at verso of photograph dated July 29. Otherwise clean. About Very Good overall.

Group of three (3) gelatin silver Times Union press photographs of Albany's The Brothers dated July 25 and July 29. Two prints, dated July 27, feature close-up portraits of James Randolph of The Brothers. Caption overlay affixed at verso of print dated July 29 reads: "PEACE KEEPERS—The Rev. Thomas P. Tooher talks to members of The Brothers on the steps of the Eagle Street police station after a meeting between the Negro group and Deputy Chief Edward McArdle." Contemporary ink stamps and annotations to verso.

Founded in 1966, The Brothers was a grassroots affiliation of organizers and activists that worked in Albany's predominantly Afro-American neighborhoods. As countermeasure against internal corruption, its leadership rotated on a weekly basis. Core members Gordon Van Ness, Leon Van Dyke, Clarence Newton, Sam McDowell, Peter Jones, and Robert Gene Dobbs all worked as editorial staff of The Albany Liberator, along with managing editor Peter Pollack, then a grad student at University at Albany, SUNY.

Scarce.