Souvenir of the Pan-American Exposition Negro Exhibit

Souvenir of the Pan-American Exposition Negro Exhibit

Official publications of the Pan-American Exposition of 1901 describe only two sideshow-esque displays on people of African descent, "The Old Plantation" and "Darkest Africa."  There is no mention of a very different third exhibit, which aimed to be a testament to African American achievement and progress in the years following emancipation. This "Negro Exhibit" appears to haven been curated by James A. Ross, an African American newspaper publisher in Buffalo.  

This souvenir pamphlet contains photographs, a descriptive essay, a partial list of Buffalo's African American residents, advertisements from local businesses, and bibliography of African American publications.  The cover of the pamphlet states "Compliments of Globe & Freeman," a periodical published by Ross.

The Buffalo & Erie County Public Library holds the only known surviving copy of this pamphlet, which was discovered pasted into a Pan-American Exposition scrapbook in the Rare Book Room.

For more information on this pamphlet, see The Forgotten "Negro Exhibit" publication created by the Library in 2001.

1901

Buffalo & Erie County Public Library (Publisher of digital)

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