The Hartman Center for Sales, Advertising & Marketing History and the John Hope Franklin Research Center for African and African American History at Duke University in Durham, North Carolina, have jointly acquired a collection showcasing Black Americans through advertisements and political campaigns aimed at African Americans from the 1970s through the 1990s. Collected by a former public relations officer associated with the NAACP, this collection represents some NAACP marketing work and advertising images depicting notable African Americans and significant moments in African American history.
The collection includes a number of posters produced by and for the NAACP’s campaigns to reduce poverty and school dropout rates and increase voter registration and membership in the NAACP. Also included are copies of print advertising campaigns including Budweiser’s “Great Kings of Africa” series, Pepsi Cola’s “The Black Presence” series, and the CIBA-GEIGY Corporation’s “Exceptional Black Scientists” series.
