Dallas, Texas Negro City Directory 1941-1942.
[Dallas]: Dallas Negro Chamber of Commerce, [1941]. lxxx,448pp., including illustrations and advertisements. Text printed in double columns. Original blue cloth boards with titles and illustrations stamped in black. Spine sunned, moderate soiling, edge wear, and some unobtrusive staining. Ownership inscription on inside front cover reading, "Desk Copy [illegible] Chamber of Commerce." Various gradations of toning throughout, bump to edges of a few text leaves, binding occasionally shaken but overall holding strong. An unusually nice copy, easily handled. Very good. Item #12841
A very rare and insightful city guide for the African-American citizens of Dallas in the mid-20th century, and the first such directory printed in Big D. This first appearance of an African-American-centric Dallas city directory was edited by T.P. Scott and sponsored by the Dallas Negro Chamber of Commerce. It was followed six years later by a similar directory edited by Don Gilbert. The present directory is profusely illustrated with photographs of local business leaders, educators, schools, churches, libraries, and businesses, with a long, illustrated section on Bishop College, and numerous advertisements for other educational institutions, like the Tyler Barber College, Coleman Beauty School, Texas College, and Langston University, stressing the importance in the black community of acquiring a trade. Other advertisements feature diners, insurance agents, the Powell Hotel, The Log Cabin Night Spot, the South Dallas Funeral Home featuring the "Singing Chapel on Wheels," a dental surgeon named Dr. W.T. Burke, the Boy Scouts of America, The Dallas Express ("The South's Oldest Negro Newspaper"), the Negro Unions Council, and more. The running header throughout the text reads, "Drink Southern Select Beer."
The majority of the directory is comprised of a 393pp. alphabetical listing of the African-American citizens of Dallas, often with home addresses and occupations listed beside the names, and occasionally phone numbers. This is followed by a twenty-page listing of businesses alphabetized by type, including accountants, barber shops, clinics, clubs, grocers, hotels, photographers, record shops, taverns, teachers, and wood dealers. A numerical listing of phone numbers and a section of advertisements round out the directory. Over 170 pages longer than the Dallas Negro Directory issued six years later (and much more uncommon), this is truly one of the most comprehensive city directories for African-Americans for any city in the United States, created in a deeply-racially-divided southern city just before the outbreak of the Second World War.
OCLC reports six copies, at NYPL, Chicago Public, Princeton, SMU, the University of Texas at Arlington, and the University of Texas at Permian Basin. There are also copies at Baylor and Duke. Decidedly rarer than the later edition, this is only the third copy I've handled, and the first in hardcover.
Junne, Blacks in the American West, p.516.
Price: $5,500