Stanley Campbell, Rockford Urban Ministries executive director, shows an 1842 abolitionist newspaper. It’s part of a display and sale of African-American and Civil Rights era memorabilia at RUM’s JustGoods FairTrade Marketplace. (Winnebago Chronicle photo)

It’s a modest blue-and-white campaign sign promoting a guy with a funny name who once ran for the U.S. Senate from Illinois.

The cardboard 2004 yard sign promoting Barack Obama, a then-obscure Illinois state senator, is now a treasure.

It’s also among items on display — including some for sale — at the Rockford Urban Ministry JustGoods Fair Trade Marketplace’s second annual Black History Month event.

Items associated with President Obama­—who famously described himself as “a skinny kid with a funny name” early in his career—are scattered throughout a display area.

Stanley Campbell, Rockford Urban Ministries executive director, created the event in a back room of the multi-storefront building.

“In this room I get to show stuff that’s been donated to us and every now and then I’ll have a used art sale,” he said. “A couple of years ago I did women’s history month sale and that went over really well.
“So I thought let’s do Civil Rights.”

Campbell’s collection is by no means an exhaustive offering of Civil Rights and African-American memorabilia. Items come from donations or are owned by Campbell.

But this modest collection of books, posters and the political has enough range and eclectic surprises to delight and inform a visitor.

Political posters, vintage cartoons and other artwork adorn the backroom walls during the Black History Month sale and display at the Rockford Urban Ministry JustGoods Fair Trade Marketplace on Seventh St. (Winnebago Chronicle photo)

Offerings include biographies, historical books and campaign

buttons; vintage advertising, art and an abolitionist newspaper; plus printed 1860s illustrations from cartoonist Thomas Nast.

There is also memorabilia from other black politicians, including comedian and political activist Dick Gregory’s 1968 presidential run, Carole Mosley Braun’s successful 1992 U.S. Senate campaign as well as campaign buttons from the Rev. Jesse Jackson’s 1980 presidential effort.

Obama campaign items have become increasingly valuable as his second White House term nears an end.

“Those items have become very collectible to the rest of the country,” Campbell said. “People who collect political items like to trace the history of the candidate.”

Efforts to recognize the contributions of black Americans date back at least a century. But it wasn’t until 1976 that a formal Black History Month was established.

Every president since has designated February as a time to “seize the opportunity to honor the too-often neglected accomplishments of black Americans in every area of endeavor throughout our history,” said then-President Gerald R. Ford.

This year’s observance also marks the 150th year since President Abraham Lincoln’s Emancipation Proclamation and the 50th anniversary of the March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom.

That march concluded with the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King’s famed “I Have a Dream” speech.

The JustGoods Fair Trade store is located in a former liquor store on Seventh St., part of a onetime vibrant Midtown retail strip that saw little foot traffic on a recent Saturday morning.

Fair Trade Marketplace is the standout among tired, vacant storefronts and an example of what the street once offered.

Through extensive renovation — much by volunteer labor — the location is clean and spacious and brightened by natural light pouring through large storefront windows.

“We have a (volunteer) group that runs the store and Rockford Urban Ministries doesn’t have to worry much about it,” Campbell said. “We like to encourage the churches to come down (and) we’re an outgrowth of the United Methodist Church.”

The store promotes ecological and socially responsible purchasing and carries products from 25 different countries. It also features gallery and performance spaces.

The Black History Month sale runs
through Saturday. For more information call (815) 965-8903, or email: justgoodsfairtrade@gmail.com