An extraordinary collection of photographs of America's Buffalo Soldiers is expected to command some of the highest bids in a March 21 New York auction of Printed and Manuscript African Americana.
 The Buffalo Soldiers, or US 10th Cavalary Regiment, were given their name by the Native American tribes during the Indian wars |
The sale spans African American culture from the days of slavery through to the civil rights movement of the 1950s. The 38 photographs are expected to sell for $40,000-60,000.
The images date from 1870 to 1905 and depict not only the famous Buffalo Soldiers - formed of black men and white officers in 1866 - but also a variety of African Americans living in the West, including ordinary people, children and even a Wild West troupe. The collection includes tin-types and carte-de-visites.
One of the photographs, a large shot by William Henry Jackson, has been highlighted by the auction house as of particular note. Captioned Our Hunters, the image was taken for the Hayden Survey circa 1871 and shows Joe Clark, who is thought to be the first African American to enter the Yellowstone Valley.
Also holding a $40,000-60,000 estimate is one of only three known copies of the second volume of poetry by Juan Latino (1518-1596), the first African author to be published in Europe. Latino, a slave captured from the coast of Guinea, rose to prominence in Europe as a professor at the University of Grenada, and was one of the first black individuals to become an accepted member of society in his day.
In September 2012, the correspondence of George T Downing, a prominent abolitionist, sold for $20,000. bringing a 150% increase on estimate.
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