Constitution and By-laws of the Colored Association of Louisiana Incorporated

Shreveport, 1934. Good.. 37pp., plus two ephemeral items laid in. Original orange printed self wrappers, stapled. Moderate rubbing and soiling to wrappers, a couple of short closed edge tears. Short closed tear to top margin of first several leaves, central bifolium detached from staples, ownership signature and address on last blank page. The founding articles of incorporation, constitution, and other documents of an important southern African-American mutual aid group, the Colored Association of Louisiana, Inc. (CALI). Organized in Shreveport in 1934, CALI was active through at least 1965. Newspaper accounts found online state that CALI was "a Louisiana corporation having for its objects the caring for the colored sick and the burial of the colored dead."  The group met annually at Baptist or AME churches to report on new membership, elect officers, and conduct sermons and Bible lessons. By the end of its first year, CALI boasted 710 members in fifteen chapters, along with a juvenile department. Membership had approximately doubled by 1940.

The present work lists several other purposes of the organization, including to "promote social intercourse" as well as "the moral and religious progress of its members."  Branches or chapters of the organizations, which they referred to as "Societies," were established throughout the state, and the group assured members throughout the state that "every member of each and every Society shall enjoy and have equal and coextensive rights and privileges." CALI also provided mutual aid and assistance including sickness, disability, and funeral benefits. The text lists the founding officers of CALI, as well as their roles and expected duties, along with information about fees, policies, funds, and assessments. Laid into the work are two applications to the organization, one likely from around the time of the present work's publication and one from the 1950s. A seemingly-unrecorded remnant of a noted African-American aid organization in Louisiana, with no listings in OCLC.