[Pair of Programs from the African-American Y Circus]

[St. Louis, 1955. Very good.. 52; 40pp. Original pictorial wrappers, stapled. Minor wear and light soiling to each. Internally, both clean. A pair of programs for consecutive years documenting the famous Pine Street YCA's "Y Circus" in St. Louis. The Y Circus was a fundraising event hosted by the Pine Street branch of the YMCA in an attempt to raise money for a children's camp for Black youth in Bourbon, Missouri. Normally the Y Circus involved performances of gymnastics, music, and dance by the youth members of the Pine Street YMCA. Eventually, prominent artists from the African-American community performed at the Y Circus in order to raise the profile of the event. The present programs are wonderful examples of this, covering the Y Circus for 1954 and 1955. The 20th Annual program features headliner Pearl Bailey; the following year, Nat "King" Cole was the featured performer, with the latter featured on the cover of the 21st annual program. The day's program for each year's celebration is featured as the centerfold. The remainder of each program is filled with photographs of the performers for each year, interspersed with a critical mass of advertisements for St. Louis-area Black-owned businesses and other companies servicing the African American community in the area. Taken together, the ads are tantamount to an African-American directory of Jim Crow St. Louis. Programs from the Pine Street Y Circus appear to be very rare institutionally, with only two results in OCLC - one copy each of the 17th and 18th annual programs, both at the Missouri History Museum.