Gillespie, Louvenia.

[Collection of an African American Student and Later Teacher at Segregated Schools].

Sumrall, Meridian and Jackson, Mississippi: circa 1936-1960s. Collection of 10 items of ephemera (ranging from 2” x 2” to 11” x 8½”), 1 autograph book (4½” x 6”), 1 print block (3” x 4”) and 11 photographs. Photos range from 3½” x 2½” to 5” x 4”, 4 are color and 2 are captioned versos. Generally very good or better: largest certificate and a few photos with folds and wear; some light toning and spotting.

This is a lovely keepsake collection belonging to a young African American woman from Mississippi, showing her time as both a student and teacher at segregated schools.

Louvenia Elizabeth Gillespie was born in 1920 and died in 2005. This collection holds her report cards (all As and Bs) from her time at T.J. Harris “Senior High School for Negroes” in Meridian, Mississippi, as well as her diploma and a printed list of her graduating class of 1938. A lovely “School-Day Memories” autograph book has her inscription, revealing her “Occupations: Teaching and Lounging” at Sumrall Colored School. It has 34 handwritten entries, mostly poems and small notes of “forget-me-not” from her students, as well as a 55-item list of “pictures I've seen.” There is a print block of Gillespie's class with her (and the school's) name on the back, as well as 11 photographs, showing groups of women at church, social events and what may have been her wedding. The collection also holds her “Missionary Certificate” of the AME East Mississippi Conference and an invitation to the “Top-Hatters Social Club Annual Formal Dance,” both of 1944.

A nice collection revealing a young woman who studied and taught at segregated schools in Mississippi. Very good. Item #9174

Price: $300.00