Golden Legacy Illustrated History Magazine
Dix Hills, N.Y. [i.e., Seattle, Wa.]: Fitzgerald Publishing Company, Inc. [i.e., Bill R. Baylor], 1966-1976 [but 1983]. Sixteen issues, each [32]pp., all retaining illustrated front cover and bound together. Contemporary black cloth with gilt titles to front cover and spine. Minor edge wear. Text of later issues occasionally trimmed close along fore edge. Very good. Item #3628
A complete run of all sixteen issues of the fraudulently pirated reprint of Golden Legacy, a series of comic books first produced in the 1960s and '70s by African-American accountant Bertram Fitzgerald and devoted to African American history. In 1983, Seattle Publisher Bill R. Baylor falsely claimed to have purchased reprint rights from Bertram Fitzgerald, and commissioned Fitzgerald's printer to produce additional copies of the series from the original printing plates and negatives. Fitzgerald sued Baylor, and after a five-year legal battle won back the publication. Baylor then disappeared without paying any of the damages assessed to him. Each issue present here begins with the text of an informational letter Fitzgerald sent to Baylor in 1982, and a single-page introduction by Baylor promising a "New Golden Legacy Series."
The comics series itself was a ground breaking affair, presenting positive and educational stories of notable African-American historical figures. The series highlighted Toussaint Louverture, Harriet Tubman, Crispus Attucks, Benjamin Banneker, Matthew Henson, Alexandre Dumas, Frederick Douglass (in two parts), Robert Smalls, Joseph Cinqué, Walter F. White, Roy Wilkins, Thurgood Marshall, Martin Luther King Jr., Alexander Pushkin, Lewis Howard Latimer, and Granville Woods. There are also issues devoted to “Black Cowboys” and “Ancient African Kingdoms.” The original series is difficult to find in total, with the 1983 piracy even tougher to locate in full runs.
Price: $250.00