Items from MLK, Woogie on display at show & sale
In more than 50 years in the antiques business, Baruch Hyman has bought and sold thousands of items while specializing in black American history.
On Sunday, he will hold an African American Memorabilia Cultural Show & Sale from 6-10 p.m. at the Teamster Local 249 Hall, 4701 Butler St., Lawrenceville. Admission is $10 per person.
Nearly 30 vendors will be selling antiques, African clothing and jewelry and photography and
artwork by black artists, said Mr. Hyman, owner of Crown Antiques & Collectibles on Fifth Avenue in the Bluff.
“We will have posters, original slave documents and the original abolitionist newspaper The Liberator from the 1840s. I will also be bringing a signed copy of Martin Luther King’s first book,” he said.
He is also planning to bring personal items that once belonged to William “Woogie” Harris, the brother of Pittsburgh Courier photographer Charles “Teenie” Harris and partner of numbers banker Gus Greenlee.
“They were revered in the community because they would give kids money to go to college,” Mr. Hyman said. “Who else was going to do that in the 1940s and ‘50s?”
Among the Harris items he will have at the show are the boxing promoter’s athletic commission card, poker chips, cigarette cases and a single-shot .22-caliber gun that looks like a pen.
“I probably have up to 20,000 items relating to black history in the shop, so I won’t be bringing them all,” he said, laughing.
Mr. Hyman said he has been trying to put on such a show for 15 years.
“This is the first time we have ever done this. Finally we found a place that works for this show,” he said, adding that he hopes to continue it. “We are going to keep it local this first year.”
“I probably have up to 20,000 items relating to black history in the shop, so I won’t be bringing them all.” Baruch Hyman