[AFRICAN-AMERICANA] [CRIMINAL JUSTICE] [JIM CROW] 5 Wanted posters for African-American individuals

Washington DC: Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), 1956. Very good. 5 leaves, each about 8" x 8", each being a "wanted" poster for an African-American male, dating from 1952 to 1956. Punch holes near the top and mild age-toning to extremities, but all in very good, clean condition. These wanted posters were mailed from the FBI office in Washington to the Postmaster in South Orrington, Maine (as indicated on the verso). Each of the individuals was born in the south, though many of their alleged offenses were perpetrated in northern cities. Three of the posters indicate "criminal records" for the individuals, noting such crimes as murder, assault, larceny, and "malicious mischief." All of the individuals are wanted for "[avoidance of] prosecution to commit murder," or very similarly worded language for the same crime. Considering the era, and the sometimes-paranoid law enforcement tactics of J. Edgar Hoover (whose printed name appears on each document), one wonders the degree of guilt of any of these individuals. even if some of them were guilty of the stated crimes, the quesiton of how their existence as second-class citizens in the south trapped them in the criminal justice system before they committed any serious crimes is a lively one. The portraits of the wanted individuals are fairly striking, to this day.