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 pictorial wrappers (with two copies of the rear wrapper), orange cloth backstrip. Noticeable chipping, staining, and rubbing to wrappers, costing parts of the border, but with no loss of text, small cello tape reinforcement to inner hinge of front wrapper. Backstrip worn and frayed, with minor loss near spine head. Bottom corner of text block with varying levels of chipping, once again with no loss of text, edges of text block soiled, even tanning to text but mostly internally clean. A frumpy copy in overall about good condition, and priced accordingly. 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, public schools, taverns, teachers, and wood dealers, among others.  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 second copy I've handled, and the first with both wrappers.

Junne, Blacks in the American West, p.516.