Description:

Phineas T. Barnum
New York, NY, September 9, 1854
P. T. Barnum Sends An Autograph…On The Day of "The Barnum Riots"!
ans
An autograph note signed by "The Greatest Humbug in the World". Phineas T. Barnum, one page, 4.75" x 7.5", New York, September 9, 1854. Light staining, tipped to another sheet and in overall very good condition.

Barnum politely responds to a fan's request, stating: "Yours is rec'd and I hasten to comply with your request…."

That same day and some 300 miles away, members of Barnum's "museum" would be charged with inciting a riot in Washington, Virginia, when they were alleged to have helped bring a "young slave boy" to freedom. The showmen were found innocent of the charges, and took with them the boy, who eventually was returned to his owners despite the their best efforts.

Barnum had a mixed track record when it came to race relations: in 1835 and at the age of 25 years old, Barnum purchased and exhibited a blind ex-slave named Joice Heth, who he touted as George Washington's nursing slave who raised him and was now 161 years old. At the same time, ever agile in spinning a yarn, Barnum claimed she was not alive at all, but rather a lifelike automaton.

Later in life, Barnum would express bitter regret for his past actions. The entertainer became an ardent abolitionist leading up to the Civil War and even switched sides to the Republican Party. In 1865 and in the aftermath of the ratification of the 14th Amendment, he gave an impassioned speech in support of "negro suffrage" to the Connecticut legislature, arguing: "Negro slavery and its legitimate outgrowths of ignorance, tyranny and oppression, have caused this gigantic rebellion which has cost our country thousands of millions of treasure, and hundreds of thousands of human lives in defending a principle…". Further, he stated "Let the educated free negro feel that he is a man; let him be trained in New England churches, schools and workshops; let him support himself, pay his taxes, and cast his vote, like other men, and he will put to everlasting shame the champions of modern democracy, by the overwhelming evidence he will give in his own person of the great Scripture truth, that ‘God has made of one blood all the nations of men.'"

This item comes with a Certificate from John Reznikoff, a premier authenticator for both major 3rd party authentication services, PSA and JSA (James Spence Authentications), as well as numerous auction houses.

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  • Dimensions: 5 x 7.5"
  • Medium: ans

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