Margot Ahlquist
Washington University’s Gerald Early found this copy of “Negro Romance” on eBay. He wants “History Detectives” to find out who created it and what its audience was. (Photo by Margot Ahlquist)
When Gerald Early, director of the Center for the Humanities at Washington University, found and won a coverless 1950s comic book on eBay called "Negro Romance," he had some questions. He turned to PBS' "History Detectives" for the answers.
This is not Early's first appearance on "History Detectives." He served as an expert on a case that involved a scorecard from a 1946 exhibition game between two teams: Major League All Stars and Robinson All Stars — an integrated team led by Jackie Robinson the year before he debuted as a rookie with the Brooklyn Dodgers and broke baseball's color line.
This time, he turned to the show to get his questions answered.
"I'm a comic book collector, but I am particularly interested in ones that deal with African-Americans in some way, whether as the subject or the author," says Early, who bid on "Negro Romance" even though it was missing its cover, which vastly diminishes its value.
For an artifact to appear on "History Detectives," the owner has to submit three questions for the detectives to answer. Early wanted to know what happened to the cover, who the artists were and what the audience for the comic book was.
In the "History Detectives" episode, host and detective Gwendolyn Wright, professor of architecture, history and art history at Columbia University, takes on the case and visits the Museum of Comic and Cartoon Art in New York City and Geppi's Entertainment Museum in Baltimore to find answers.
"I could have hired a research assistant and found these answers myself, but I had reasons for going to TV," Early says. "I thought this would be interesting to the public. Most people don't even know that there are African-American comics, so I wanted them to know."
Early wouldn't reveal much about his appearance, but he said the mystery will be solved
This is not Early's first appearance on "History Detectives." He served as an expert on a case that involved a scorecard from a 1946 exhibition game between two teams: Major League All Stars and Robinson All Stars — an integrated team led by Jackie Robinson the year before he debuted as a rookie with the Brooklyn Dodgers and broke baseball's color line.
This time, he turned to the show to get his questions answered.
"I'm a comic book collector, but I am particularly interested in ones that deal with African-Americans in some way, whether as the subject or the author," says Early, who bid on "Negro Romance" even though it was missing its cover, which vastly diminishes its value.
For an artifact to appear on "History Detectives," the owner has to submit three questions for the detectives to answer. Early wanted to know what happened to the cover, who the artists were and what the audience for the comic book was.
In the "History Detectives" episode, host and detective Gwendolyn Wright, professor of architecture, history and art history at Columbia University, takes on the case and visits the Museum of Comic and Cartoon Art in New York City and Geppi's Entertainment Museum in Baltimore to find answers.
"I could have hired a research assistant and found these answers myself, but I had reasons for going to TV," Early says. "I thought this would be interesting to the public. Most people don't even know that there are African-American comics, so I wanted them to know."
Early wouldn't reveal much about his appearance, but he said the mystery will be solved
Read more: http://www.stltoday.com/entertainment/television/article_cb98296d-5126-57ce-a54b-648a47ad3dd7.html#ixzz1Rcl7jflC
