"Poro" in Pictures: With a Short History of its Development
St. Louis: Poro College, 1926.
First Edition. Softcover. Near Fine Condition. Item #049347
Oblong pamphlet with the history and photos of Poro College, founded by Annie Turnbo Malone in 1917 in St. Louis. Slight soiling to embossed, string tiedwraps, 44pp most with full page photos or illustrations.
Poro was opened in 1918 by Annie Turnbo Malone as a Cosmetology school, but it quickly - and by design - became a center of African American Life in St. Louis.
The complex, which cost approximately $350,000 to build (a figure that was much discussed at the time, but doesn't include significant later additions) , included classrooms, beauty shops, laboratories, an auditorium, conference rooms, cafeteria, an ice cream parlor, bakery, emergency hospital, a theater, offices, a roof garden, garage, gentlemen's billiards club, and manufacturing facilities. This information pamphlet was produced in 1926, around the height of Poro's success and shortly before Malone's move to Chicago. The business had been founded in 1902 as a small shop on Market Street in St. Louis and named her product line Poro,a Senufo word that means physical and spiritual growth.
Rare in commerce, 8 copies in OCLC. Size: Octavo (8vo). Quantity Available: 1. Shipped Weight: Under 1 kilo. Category: Americana; Education. Inventory No: 049347.
Price: $5,000.00