To the Colored People. A Few Plain Words on the Square Deal [wrapper title]

Boston: Washington Press, 1912. [4]pp., on a single folded sheet. Minor wear and soiling, a few short closed tears to edges, corners creased. About very good. A rather rare political campaign leaflet published by the Progressive Party's candidate for the 1912 gubernatorial election, Charles Sumner Bird. The interior includes a photographic portrait of Bird, claiming him as "The Man for You...Colored Men and Women..." and thereafter listing the reasons Bird is the right candidate for African-American voters. The first of these claims states that "He is the worthy son of the great Massachusetts abolitionist, anti-slavery fighter, friend of Douglas and member of the war governor, Andrew's, Council, Francis W. Bird of Walpole." The longer text on the last two pages details why the Progressive Party is right for African-American voters, in two main sections: "The Part of the Colored People in Founding the Party" and "The Colored People and Roosevelt." The latter claims Theodore Roosevelt as "the friend of the negro...who saved the negroes in the race riots...who opened up offices to colored men and women...whose record of appointments of colored men and women, both North and South, cannot be criticized..." and more. OCLC reports a single institutional holding, at the University of North Carolina - Chapel Hill.