3 10 43 https://mirrorofrace.bc.edu/files/original/d562b1373b54044c0abc347f1810d723.tif f8cd1aa36bac50257fc1163b92e56c65 Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Mirror of Race Subject The topic of the resource Mirror of Race Main Collection Still Image A static visual representation. Examples include paintings, drawings, graphic designs, plans and maps. Recommended best practice is to assign the type Text to images of textual materials. Original Format The type of object, such as painting, sculpture, paper, photo, and additional data carte de visite: albumen print Physical Dimensions The actual physical size of the original image cdv standard Factual Commentary Factual Commentary The caption on this photograph reads in part: “ISAAC and ROSA, Emancipated slave Children, from the Free Schools of Louisiana. Photographed by Kimball, 477 Broadway, N. Y. Ent’d accord’g to act of Congress in the year 1863...”Printed text on the back of the card reads: “The proceeds from the sale of these Photographs will be devoted exclusively to the education of colored people in the Department of the Gulf, now under the command of Major-General Banks.” This portrait forms part of a series of portraits of a group of former slaves who toured in the North during the Civil War. They were photographed and featured in newspaper articles to bolster support for the war and to raise funds for schools and other support for emancipated slaves. Interpretive Commentary Interpretive Commentary This image, as well as the others in the series of photographs of emancipated slaves who toured the North during the Civil War, raise questions about the use of photography as a means of persuasion. These images are a very early example of photography employed as propaganda. As prints from glass plate negatives, they could be reproduced and distributed widely. But what role did the subjects of these portraits play in this process? Did they choose freely to engage in it, or was this a new form of exploitation? What about the use of children? Did they participate willingly in the long studio sessions? Were they paid? Furthermore, the photographs often employ children who look very white, some of whom could certainly pass for white. Several of the captions explicitly refer to this. Were the makers trying to shock the Northern audience and get them to see the arbitrariness of the color line, or was this a further form of exploitation, using the viewers' identification with their own whiteness to sympathize with the subjects of the photographs? For essays that address these and related themes on the Mirror of Race website, see "'As White as their Masters': Visualizing the Color Line", by Carol Goodman and "A White Slave Girl: "Mulatto Raised by Charles Sumner'", by Joan Gage. Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context Figure031 Title A name given to the resource Isaac and Rosa Subject The topic of the resource Isaac and Rosa Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1863 Type The nature or genre of the resource studio portrait, social-political Rights Holder A person or organization owning or managing rights over the resource. Greg French Collection Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Kimball (dates Unknown Photographer Photographer) https://mirrorofrace.bc.edu/files/original/4baa21026b0f0ec6570215734193b38d.tif 1387fe5d1aa6d7eb8513c194fa4eb103 Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Mirror of Race Subject The topic of the resource Mirror of Race Main Collection Still Image A static visual representation. Examples include paintings, drawings, graphic designs, plans and maps. Recommended best practice is to assign the type Text to images of textual materials. Original Format The type of object, such as painting, sculpture, paper, photo, and additional data tintype Physical Dimensions The actual physical size of the original image cdv standard Factual Commentary Factual Commentary In the 19th century both adults and children would often pose with prize possessions that they believed identified something essential about them. The central focus of this tintype is the black doll, which the girl in the photograph presents for the camera. It should be possible to identify the maker of this particular doll and thereby more precisely the date of this image. If you are an expert on 19th century dolls and can identify this one, please be in touch with us at Mirror of Race. Interpretive Commentary Interpretive Commentary For millions of girls, dolls have served as intimate companions. Dolls offer the opportunity try out the role of mother to a doll or interacting with an imaginary adult as embodied by the doll. In such play, a child learns how she does and does not, or can and cannot, fit in with acceptable social roles. In that sense, dolls have power to reinforce prevailing gender roles. They are never just toys, because all play has a seriousness to it as well. So what does it tell us that this white girl would also choose an emphatically black doll as her companion? To bring the doll to the photographer suggests the doll was a precious possession for this girl, who smiles very subtlely for the camera and looks the viewer squarely in the eye ― and she holds the dolls to meet our eye, too. By contrast, the woman with them, presumably the girl’s mother, looks aside, as if refusing to meet the viewer’s gaze. In another image from the same session with the photographer (see below), the girl cradles the doll even more lovingly, while the mother holds an umbrella over them, as if protecting them from sun or rain ― or from view. Once again, the mother looks askance, with the same quizzical look on her face as in the other photograph. Just as doll-play could reinforce gender norms, doll-play could also reinforce racial roles. And yet ― Is this girl acting out a broader social drama of racial subjection, or is she modeling an intimacy that makes even her own mother look away? Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context Figure028 Title A name given to the resource girl, woman, and doll Subject The topic of the resource unknown Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource circa 1875 Type The nature or genre of the resource studio portrait Rights Holder A person or organization owning or managing rights over the resource. Greg French Collection Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Unknown Photographer Photographer https://mirrorofrace.bc.edu/files/original/c9acbbb0f84e94aa5945f51e8f91bf67.tif b5bc788542c319fb2db636afbc324793 Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Mirror of Race Subject The topic of the resource Mirror of Race Main Collection Still Image A static visual representation. Examples include paintings, drawings, graphic designs, plans and maps. Recommended best practice is to assign the type Text to images of textual materials. Original Format The type of object, such as painting, sculpture, paper, photo, and additional data tintype Physical Dimensions The actual physical size of the original image “gemtype” (0.75 x 1 inch) in a paper mat, cdv standard Factual Commentary Factual Commentary The photograph above is a tiny tintype portrait of kind known as the “gemtype” (click the image to the left for a close-up). Photographers would use special cameras with as many as 16 lenses to make multiple, postage-stamp-sized photographs on a single thin, metal plate, which the customer could then cut up and give to friends and family. The paper mat holding this one is embossed: “Hathaway, Photographer, Glens Falls,” which is in New York state. We know nothing about the man in the photograph, except that he is almost certainly a white man in “blackface,” which was a costume popularized by the minstrel shows of mid-19th century America. Blackface consisted of blackening a white person’s face with makeup, such as greasepaint or shoe polish, or even burnt cork. In this photograph the man also wears a wig to mimic the hair of African Americans. The minstrel show emerged in the United States in the 1830s and became enormously successful as a form of popular entertainment among whites. White performers, both professional and amateur, would wear blackface and perform satirical skits and musical numbers, posing as African Americans. Interpretive Commentary Interpretive Commentary One thing to notice about this photograph is that it was made in Glen Falls, New York, around the time of the Civil War. The extreme racial stereotyping that characterized the minstrel show was very popular in northern regions, and it is important to bear in mind that this form of racism was widespread in the United States. Blackface and the minstrel show was a form of mock reverse passing from white to black. In actual passing, a person attempts to convince others that they embody a different identity than would normally be ascribed to them. But in blackface, white performers played with taking on the persona of blacks for an audience that would still see them as white. This mock passing played on the fascination with racial boundaries. Comedy works on the borders of hysteria, and blackface touched a nerve by presenting a white person as black, exploiting a deep-seated anxiety about racial identity and purity ― but at the same time, this anxiety would be quelled by the audience knowing the performers was “really” white and by the demeaning representation of blacks, which would reassure them of their distance from the characters depicted. The audience could then return to a reassured sense of possessing their whiteness as a mark of genuine superiority, combined with a feeling of mastery over the black archetypes captured and forced, as the audience saw such performances, to reveal themselves in the caricatured forms of blackface. Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context Figure026 Title A name given to the resource man in blackface Subject The topic of the resource unknown Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource circa 1865 Type The nature or genre of the resource studio portrait Rights Holder A person or organization owning or managing rights over the resource. Gregory Fried Collection Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Hathaway (dates Unknown Photographer Photographer) https://mirrorofrace.bc.edu/files/original/c03c06030d85ae1bae490eb80a8f6061.tif fd880b21d6ed688f1999c357967e4c73 Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Mirror of Race Subject The topic of the resource Mirror of Race Main Collection Still Image A static visual representation. Examples include paintings, drawings, graphic designs, plans and maps. Recommended best practice is to assign the type Text to images of textual materials. Original Format The type of object, such as painting, sculpture, paper, photo, and additional data daguerreotype Physical Dimensions The actual physical size of the original image Quarter Plate (3.25 x 4.25 inches) Factual Commentary Factual Commentary A slip of paper that accompanied this daguerreotype identifies the man as the “Richards family slave.” Nothing more is known about this image other than it comes from the St. Louis, Missouri area. The man depicted sits holding a hoe, with his arm through the handle of a wicker basket, presumably for harvesting vegetables. He wears coarse pants and a work shirt. Judging by the style of mat and case, this photograph probably dates from the late 1840s or perhaps the early 1850s. Interpretive Commentary Interpretive Commentary Early photographs of slaves are quite rare, and they require particular care to interpret. For example, is it right to call this daguerreotype photograph from around 1850 a portrait? In her book, Delia’s Tears, Molly Rogers argues that we should not call photographs such as this one “portraits,” because that word implies that the person sitting for the photograph had a choice in how he wanted to be represented ― that the image would be in some real sense a projection of his own self-understanding. But for an enslaved person being posed for the camera by an owner, this could never be the case. And so, in viewing an image such as this, of the ”Richards family slave,” we need to be very careful about what we think we are seeing, because all of the elements here might have been arranged by the legal owners or by the photographer, and almost certainly not by the man himself, on his own initiative. For a meditation on the meaning of this photograph, see "Work and the Poetry of Sterling Brown: Reclaiming Forced Labor,” by Anita Patterson, on our essays page. Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context Figure025 Title A name given to the resource Richards family slave Subject The topic of the resource unknown Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource circa 1850 Type The nature or genre of the resource studio portrait Rights Holder A person or organization owning or managing rights over the resource. Greg French Collection Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Unknown Photographer Photographer https://mirrorofrace.bc.edu/files/original/6a2be3bf3ec6800ee1b80047e840d2c9.tif 0af270a876a5b3efdd221d53af7e58e6 Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Mirror of Race Subject The topic of the resource Mirror of Race Main Collection Still Image A static visual representation. Examples include paintings, drawings, graphic designs, plans and maps. Recommended best practice is to assign the type Text to images of textual materials. Original Format The type of object, such as painting, sculpture, paper, photo, and additional data daguerreotype Physical Dimensions The actual physical size of the original image Quarter Plate (3.25 x 4.25 inches) Factual Commentary Factual Commentary Jenny Lind (1820-1887), “the Swedish nightingale,” achieved extraordinary celebrity in mid-nineteenth century America by touring the country for singing performances under the management of P. T. Barnum, the famous circus manager and events promoter. Lind was one of the the first performers to achieve “celebrity” or “star” status, thanks in part to the overwhelming publicity and marketing efforts of Barnum. Lind married the German-Jewish pianist and composer Otto Goldschmidt (1829-1907) on Feb. 8, 1852 in Boston. Though he was Jewish and she was not, she married him despite their differences in religious background. At the time, this was a bold thing to do, but Lind’s enormous and international popularity as a performer allowed her a rare freedom from social constraints. This daguerreotype is a copy of an original made by the great Boston photographer team, Southworth and Hawes, as commissioned by Lind and Goldschmidt on the eve of their wedding. Interpretive Commentary Interpretive Commentary A broad theme we are interested in exploring at Mirror of Race is how whiteness was, and is, construed. In the America of the 19th century, and indeed well beyond that period, Jews belonged to a suspect category of people who might seem white but who did not fit the expectations of what made someone properly white. In the 19th century, nationality or ethnicity were often conflated with race, and so Jews faced exclusion not only on religious but also on racial grounds. Jews were not alone in being subjected to this kind of scrutiny and exclusion from the full privileges that whiteness bestowed. The largely Protestant white population of the United States resisted accepting Irish Catholics as members of their kind, especially as large numbers of Irish began immigrating after the Potato Famine of the late 1840s. Later in the century, southern Europeans faced similar doubts and prejudice. Otto Goldschmidt belonged to a class of persons who, as visitors to America, could rise above such prejudice, due to his being a highly educated foreigner (a German by birth) and to his success as a composer and performer of what the upper class in 19th century American society would have deemed one of the most refined cultural spheres: classical music. Furthermore, his marriage to Jenny Lind, one of the most beloved figures of the age, would have protected him to some extent, too. We hope to present more images of Jews in mid-19th century America, especially ones who made their lives in the United States, for their story is necessarily different from that of a visitor and celebrity such as Goldschmidt. We welcome submissions for our essay publication page on the topic of Jewishness and race in the United States. Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context Figure024 Title A name given to the resource Otto Goldschmidt and Jenny Lind Subject The topic of the resource Otto Goldschmidt and Jenny Lind Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Albert Sands Southworth and Josiah Johnson Hawes Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1852 Type The nature or genre of the resource studio portrait Rights Holder A person or organization owning or managing rights over the resource. Greg French Collection https://mirrorofrace.bc.edu/files/original/e4c62621bda78547276d956385269b71.tif 916948d373aae5a9ea9b83316a99f3c7 Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Mirror of Race Subject The topic of the resource Mirror of Race Main Collection Still Image A static visual representation. Examples include paintings, drawings, graphic designs, plans and maps. Recommended best practice is to assign the type Text to images of textual materials. Original Format The type of object, such as painting, sculpture, paper, photo, and additional data daguerreotype Physical Dimensions The actual physical size of the original image Sixth Plate (2.75 x 3.25 inches) Factual Commentary Factual Commentary This daguerreotype from around 1850 portrays a Native American man in European clothing. The name “Ta-Do-A-Hoc Tas” has been inscribed by hand into the silver surface of the plate. We are hoping to identify the sitter by this name, and we invite viewers with any knowledge of the language transliterated here to contact us. Interpretive Commentary Interpretive Commentary While we do not yet know who this man was, his portrait still tells us something about the fate of Native Americans in the United States. We do know that the man was Native American, because of the name, Ta-Do-A-Hoc Tas, inscribed with a sharp tool directly into the metal plate of the photograph (daguerreotypes were made on silver-coated copper plates). Ta-Do-A-Hoc Tas poses here with evident dignity and self-possession. But there are questions we can ask. Why would he wear European-style clothes? He seems very comfortable in them, as if he is quite used to them and how they should look and fit? Was he a member of one of the tribes that tied to assimilate with European practices? Did he leave his tribe entirely? Was it his decision to inscribe his name, and was this photograph his possession, or was it kept by the photographer as a kind of memento, with the name as a sort of caption? We hope that further research will tell us what language the name is in, and that this will lead to further clues about this man. Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context Figure022 Title A name given to the resource Ta-Do-A-Hoc Tas Subject The topic of the resource unknown Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource circa 1850 Type The nature or genre of the resource studio portrait Rights Holder A person or organization owning or managing rights over the resource. Greg French Collection Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Unknown Photographer Photographer https://mirrorofrace.bc.edu/files/original/dc937d8c877f2742ea4d7c1699db654d.jpg fd30d15095e4cdc8aa38f44853d30e63 Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Mirror of Race Subject The topic of the resource Mirror of Race Main Collection Still Image A static visual representation. Examples include paintings, drawings, graphic designs, plans and maps. Recommended best practice is to assign the type Text to images of textual materials. Original Format The type of object, such as painting, sculpture, paper, photo, and additional data carte de visite: albumen print Physical Dimensions The actual physical size of the original image cdv standard Factual Commentary Factual Commentary Frances Clayton adopted the name Jack Williams and posed as a man so that she could join her husband, Elmer Clayton, when he enlisted in the Union army. They fought together in several Missouri regiments, both cavalry and artillery. Elmer Clayton was killed in action, in front of Frances, at the battle of Mufreesboro on December 31, 1862, but she kept on fighting. She was wounded multiple times herself, but managed to keep her identity hidden even after the death of her husband. She fought at many engagements, including the decisive battle of Fort Donelson on February 12, 1862. Interpretive Commentary Interpretive Commentary Frances Clayton was not the only woman to adopt a male persona to fight in the war. Dozens if not hundreds did so, too. The Miror of Race is interested in exploring the issue of gender passing as it relates to race passing. How do the two forms of passing compare? Which was more of a transgression at the time? When and why did it become acceptable to pass, either by race or by gender? What kind of "performance" was required to carry it off? And what does passing tell about the reality, or non-reality, of race and gender as natural categories? Please go here for a sub-exhibition of portraits of women pushing the boundaries of gender roles in this period. Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context Figure020 Title A name given to the resource Frances Clalin Clayton, aka Jack Williams Subject The topic of the resource Frances Clalin Clayton, aka Jack Williams Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource S. Masury Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource circa 1865 Type The nature or genre of the resource studio portrait Rights Holder A person or organization owning or managing rights over the resource. Greg French Collection https://mirrorofrace.bc.edu/files/original/59661da67004aab86e62461b5712b663.jpg 90e9ec9f1f6861e94ccc87d5f3079792 Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Mirror of Race Subject The topic of the resource Mirror of Race Main Collection Still Image A static visual representation. Examples include paintings, drawings, graphic designs, plans and maps. Recommended best practice is to assign the type Text to images of textual materials. Original Format The type of object, such as painting, sculpture, paper, photo, and additional data carte de visite: albumen print Physical Dimensions The actual physical size of the original image cdv standard Factual Commentary Factual Commentary The makers’ imprint on the back of each of these two photographs reads: “Robinson and Murphy, Artists, No. 4 Bank Row, Huntsville, Ala” (click on the image to see an enlargement). There is also a handwritten note in period pen that reads as follows: “Photograph of uniforms etc taken by Lt. L. E. Campbell 38th NY on the night of the 31st of October, 1868 ― these were worn by Ku Klux on the night of the fight.” The “fight” mentioned here was a raid on Huntsville, Alabama on Oct. 31, 1868 by approximately 150 mounted men, all wearing Ku Klux Klan regalia and armed with pistols, shotguns, and other other weapons. The 1868 report of the Joint Committee on Outrages, compiled and published to record the increasing activities of the KKK, describes how the raiders came to town to break up a meeting of the Republican Party and to intimidate the now free Blacks of the region. Following is an excerpt from the testimony of A. J. Applegate, a witness to the raid: “About 10 o’clock, the excitement in the meeting and around the court house, became very great. I could hear from all quarters that the Ku Klux were com- ing. I walked down in front of the court house, and saw the head of the column coming up the street, on the east side of the square. They were riding three and four abreast. Their horses were covered with white sheets. The members wore gowns made of light colored material, with masks, hideously ornamented. Each horseman had from one to two pistols, one of which was carried in his right hand, cocked ; also, a carbine or double-barreled shot gun. The column consisted of about one hundred and fifty men. As they passed around the square, I passed through the hall of the court house, crossed the street ahead of the column. When I came out of the court house yard, I saw large crowds of the white citizens stand- ing in groups, or running to and fro, and a considerable number of negroes, who seemed worked up to a state of perfect phrenzy with fear.” The KKK raiders shot Judge Thurlow, who died of his wounds, as well as two African American men, also killed, and wounded several more. Citizens of Huntsville sent to a nearby Federal army camp for protection. That evening, Lieutenant Campbell’s patrol caught three mounted men with weapons and KKK robes in their saddle bags, arrested them, and confiscated the weapons and regalia. But the local authorities released them from prison the next morning; with the help of local citizens, they rearmed, took back their horses by force, and escaped. There seems to have been no other consequences for the attackers. The men in the two photographs are therefore not members of the Ku Klux Klan. They are Federal soldiers who have put on the confiscated robes to record them with a photographer as part of an effort to document the practices of the KKK. These are then very early examples of documentary or forensic photography. According to the Arlington National Cemetery Website, Lieutenant Lafayette E. Campbell (1845-1919) was a career soldier who entered the military as a private in 1862 and rose to the rank of first lieutenant by the end of the Civil War. In 1875, Campbell married Margaret Lynd Dent, the daughter of General Frederick Tracy Dent, who was the brother-in-law of President Ulysses Simpson Grant. In the late 1880’s, Captain Campbell served as quartermaster overseeing the construction of Fort Logan, Denver, Colorado. He retired at the rank of Lieutenant Colonel. Another on-line sourcefor Campbell is the Friends of Historic Fort Logan. Interpretive Commentary Interpretive Commentary These two photographs encapsulate one aspect of the tragedy of the period after the Civil War known as Reconstruction, which lasted from 1865 to 1876. During Reconstruction, Federal military forces occupied the former states of the Confederacy. Their role was to provide security and oversee the reintegration of the former rebellious states into the Union. During Reconstruction, the more radical of the Republicans hoped to orchestrate political and social change so that former slaves would have a fully participatory role in the economy and government of the southern states. African Americans identified almost universally with the Republicans and sought political office as members of that party, and many were elected to state and national positions. However, the forces of white supremacy could not tolerate change this profound, and within a few years of the end of the Civil War, groups such as the Ku Klux Klan had organized to employ terroristic violence against both Blacks and any whites who supported them. The raid on Huntsville is a good example of how such groups could operate almost without fear of the local authorities. The Federal troops stationed in the are could only act after the fact, and not effectively. They captured the KKK robes and weapons shown in the photographs, but could not stop the men who used them. Slowly but surely, the campaign of terror wore away at the national resolve to promote equality for the former slaves, and their leaders and supporters were either murdered, run out of town, or terrified into silence. By 1876, Reconstruction was effectively dead, and the the era of Jim Crow segregation and subjugation had begun. Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context Figure019 Title A name given to the resource Ku Klux Klan uniforms and gear Subject The topic of the resource Ku Klux Klan uniforms and gear Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1868 Type The nature or genre of the resource studio portrait Rights Holder A person or organization owning or managing rights over the resource. Greg French Collection Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Robinson and Murphy (dates Unknown Photographer Photographer) https://mirrorofrace.bc.edu/files/original/a527d2de0b11747a9bc306b17709630f.jpg 644e447f73a3a0495f5f00ed01e1e804 Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Mirror of Race Subject The topic of the resource Mirror of Race Main Collection Still Image A static visual representation. Examples include paintings, drawings, graphic designs, plans and maps. Recommended best practice is to assign the type Text to images of textual materials. Original Format The type of object, such as painting, sculpture, paper, photo, and additional data ambrotype Physical Dimensions The actual physical size of the original image Sixth Plate (2.75 x 3.25 inches) (pair) Factual Commentary Factual Commentary Van Meter has posed holding a copy of W. O. Blake’s History of Slavery and the Slave Trade, Ancient and Modern. The title on the book’s spine can be seen by magnifying and reversing the image:Blake’s History was first published in 1857 by J. & H. Miller of Columbus, Ohio and sold exclusively by subscription. Blake’s History is a vast overview of the historical forms of slavery, treating the subject up to the debates over Kansas in the US Congress. It strives to maintain “objectivity,” but is clearly abolitionist in its didactic intent. The Van Meters lived near Rock Island, Illinois, and Van Meter’s posing with this book seems a clear declaration of his views on the slavery question. Presented below are the title page, two page Preface, and an illustration of a slave ship, all from Blake’s History: Interpretive Commentary Interpretive Commentary For an exhibition of portraits of abolitionists, please see this link on the Mirror of Race website.http://mirrorofrace.org/abolitionits-page/ Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context Figure018 Title A name given to the resource David James Van Meter and Martha Avery Van Meter Subject The topic of the resource David James Van Meter and Martha Avery Van Meter Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource David James Van Meter and Martha Avery Van Meter Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource circa 1859 Type The nature or genre of the resource studio portrait Rights Holder A person or organization owning or managing rights over the resource. Gregory Fried Collection https://mirrorofrace.bc.edu/files/original/41c4897ee73c4220176ce0660b51a133.tif 7225cf3e11c1bf51cbf6c7cd8ecd9ba5 Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Mirror of Race Subject The topic of the resource Mirror of Race Main Collection Still Image A static visual representation. Examples include paintings, drawings, graphic designs, plans and maps. Recommended best practice is to assign the type Text to images of textual materials. Original Format The type of object, such as painting, sculpture, paper, photo, and additional data daguerreotype Physical Dimensions The actual physical size of the original image Sixth Plate (2.75 x 3.25 inches) Factual Commentary Factual Commentary The African American man in this early (around 1845) daguerreotype holds a musical instrument known as a keyed bugle. He is almost certainly a free person, and we can tell this for several reasons. First, his clothing is well tailored and therefore would be expensive, not something given to a slave. Next, the keyed bugle itself is a valuable musical instrument, one played by highly trained musicians. Finally, he holds a sheet of music, a sign that he must have been literate, something nearly impossible, and generally illegal, for slaves. The keyed bugle was invented in 1810 in Ireland by a man named Joseph Halliday. First employed in the British military, the keyed bugle soon came into wider use by composers and orchestras. In the United States, perhaps the greatest keyed bugle player was an African American man named Francis Johnson (1792-1844), who both composed and performed, and who achieved wide fame for his virtuosity and tremendous success with both white and black audiences. Johnson lived in Philadelphia, where he instructed other free blacks in the keyed bugle, and some of them played with his traveling band. The man in this photography might have been one of Johnson’s students or a member of his circle of performers. To learn more about the keyed bugle, and to hear it played by the most accomplished modern scholar of this instrument, Ralph Dudgeon, go to this webpage. Dudgeon has also published the definitive study on the instrument, The Keyed Bugle. You can hear some of Francis Johnson’s compositions, scored for the piano, here. This brief biography, from University of Pennsylvania, provides an overview of Johnson’s life and accomplishments. Interpretive Commentary Interpretive Commentary Even though we do not know the identity of this man, we can see that he has made a very deliberate decision to pose with such evident pride with his keyed bugle and sheet music. In early photography, people would frequently pose with the tools of their trade or profession, so there is good reason to believe this man is a professional musician. The sheet music he holds is important for several reasons. Even if the man portrayed here was not a member of the circle of the African American composer, conductor, and band leader, Francis Johnson, he would have certainly known of him, as he was the most famous Black musician of his era and a great promoter of the virtues of the keyed bugle. Johnson was the first African American composer to publish his work as sheet music; this man poses with sheet music, perhaps in honor of Johnson, but certainly to convey that he is a literate reader of music, a skill symbolizing refinement and distinction. African American musicians faced racial prejudice and even violence in pursuing their careers. Accomplished musicians such as Johnson and the man portrayed here were subject to discrimination and insults by white bands, who resented competition from Black performers, and they sometimes had to dodge angry crowds of whites, who were threatened by the sheer fact that Black musicians could perform so well or even that they could read music. Despite these obstacles, Johnson was hailed as a great musician; he broke ground by performing to mixed race audiences, and he was much in demand for private and public occasions. If the man we see here played his bugle as part of that world, then he also played a part in laying the foundations for the enduring influence of Black music in the United States. Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context Figure017 Title A name given to the resource man with keyed bugle Subject The topic of the resource unknown Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource circa 1845 Type The nature or genre of the resource studio portrait, possibly occupational Rights Holder A person or organization owning or managing rights over the resource. Greg French Collection Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Unknown Photographer