Masses & Mainstream, was a New York-based journal, published from 1948 to 1963, and was an American Marxist monthly publication. It resulted from a merger between New Masses, which ceased publication in January 1948, and Mainstream, a Communist cultural quarterly established the previous year. Charles White contributed illustrations to a number of the covers of Masses & Mainstream and the journal published a set of White’s prints in 1953. This particular issue, February 1952, dedicated to Negro History Week, included on its cover the name of Charles White among its contributors. White contributed two full page reproductions, Frederick Douglass, on page 18 and Gideon, on page 49. Both works had been made the previous year, in 1951. Gideon was lithograph on cream wove paper, 565 x 375 mm; 22 1/4x14 3/4 inches, and Frederick Douglass was lithograph on maraiz paper, 22 3/4 x 16 1/2 in. Apart from the titles of the two pieces, no further details of Gideon or Frederick Douglass are included in the issue.