1 10 43 https://mirrorofrace.bc.edu/files/original/31e2d28cac73c6b07c67abc43205a0cf.tif 1b4087648cf46ca4a6000b8e214733de 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 This photograph depicts two young African American men in rags. They are almost certainly “contrabands,” a name given to enslaved people who escaped from their masters once the Civil War broke out and sought refuge with the Union forces in Confederate territory. It is likely that they were photographed by an itinerant photographer at a Union army camp. Someone (almost certainly the person who purchased this image) has written on the mat in pencil: “All men are created equal” ― quoting in part perhaps the most famous line from the Declaration of Independence, namely that “We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal.” On the back of card (see an enlarged illustration below), the same person goes on to write: “This is not exagerated [sic] in the least - : not one out of ten of the niggers here, who have run away from their masters (and there are thousands of them) can boast of such good clothes. Shove them into the army, I say, and let them do the fighting in this hot Department.” Given the mention “this hot Department,” which means an occupied territory of the Confederacy where considerable combat was still taking place, it was probably a solder who bought this photograph from a camp sutler (a merchant who would travel with an army to sell goods to the soldiers). He seems to have then sent it by mail, with the message inscribed on the photograph, to a friend or family member. Interpretive Commentary Interpretive Commentary This image captures two faces of white America’s relationship to race. Literally on the face, the front, of the image the writer has given the photograph his own caption: “All men are created equal.” This seems to be an expression of America’s highest ideals of equality and justice: even these to young men ― forced to live in slavery, reduced to wearing rags ― deserve to share in the equality owed by right to “all men.” The expression seem to validate the Union cause in the Civil War as a fight for those ideals: to uphold universal equality and to end the injustice of slavery. And yet, on the hidden face of the image, its back, its underside, the writer seems to speak his mind more freely. He call the escaped slaves “niggers” and seems to despise them for their condition, almost as if he were contaminated by how many of them (“thousands”) were flooding the area of Union army control. Still, despite the evident contempt, there is perhaps a ray of hope. Many whites resisted giving black men the right to fight in the war. To allow them to fight as soldiers would be to grant them an equal status to the white men as men who were up to the responsibility of facing death to preserve their liberty. Despite the coarse, even crude language this writer uses, and despite his willingness to see African Americans put in harm’s way, at least he accepts that they should have the opportunity to fight, to exchange the rags for a soldier’s uniform, and thereby to share in a common cause. Perhaps without fully realizing it, he was accepting the position of abolitionists such as Frederick Douglass that African Americans must be given the opportunity to prove themselves ready to face death to live free and to fight for the freedom of others. For a discussion of African American soldiers in the Civil War, see Erina Duganne’s essay on this site, “Black Civil War Portraiture in Context.” For portraits of black men who did get that chance to serve as soldiers in the Civil War, see this one of an anonymous private in the famed 54th Massachusetts and this one of James Trotter, a former slave who rose to officer rank and went went on to become a civil servant and author. 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 Figure032 Title A name given to the resource "All men are created equal" 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 1863 Type The nature or genre of the resource studio portrait (probably itinerant setting), commercial 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/d6818c8ab57e03ac3e4ad806d3234d26.tif a1c822862ec4428181c8890810e26af4 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 This photograph is another in the series of former slaves from the New Orleans area who obtained freedom during the Civil War and participated in one of the first photographic publicity campaigns to support a cause ― in this case, the Union and schools for former slaves. The caption on the front of the card reads: “Learning is Wealth. Wilson, Charley, Rebecca & Rosa. Slaves from New Orleans.” Printed on reverse: “No. 6. / Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1864, by S. Tackaberry, in the Clerk’s Office, of the District Court of the United States, for the Southern District of New York. / The nett proceeds from the sale of these Photographs will be devoted to the education of Colored People in the department of the Gulf now under the command of Maj. Gen’l Banks. / Chas. Paxson, Photographer, New York. / N. B. ― All orders must be addressed to H. N. Bent, No. 1 Mercer Street, New York.” Wilson is Wilson Chinn, who appears in another image in this exhibition displaying the chains and implements of punishment used on slaves. For more images in this series of photographs of former slaves, see here. Interpretive Commentary Interpretive Commentary Of all the photographs in the series of former slaves from New Orleans, this is the one that indicates most directly a key goal of the publicity campaign: to provide education for these former slaves. The children gather around Charley, as if in a family. Little Rosa seems exhausted and fed up with must have been a very long day in the photographer’s studio. Although this image might seem innocuous to a modern viewer, it must be remembered that teaching a slave to read was a crime in the slave states. It was understood that literacy was an essential step on the path to liberation and autonomy, which was either a hope or a threat, depending on whether one’s aim was liberty or preserving the domination of the masters. 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 Figure085 Title A name given to the resource “Learning is Wealth" Subject The topic of the resource unknown Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Charles Paxson Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1864 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/b2b81750a225e4eebf85943015ef6878.jpg 08470e64f146c9028ea990692613e96a 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 penned inscription on this photograph reads “Tonquaways of Texas,” and it dates from around 1865. The two men, at this point unidentified, each pose with a bow and a single arrow. They wear a combination of tribal and Western clothing. “Tonquaway” is a 19th spelling for the Tonkawa tribe, which once roamed the region that is now Oklahoma, Texas, and New Mexico. In 1884, the US government forcibly gathered and relocated the Tonkawas, finally settling them in Oakland, Oklahoma in 1885. That this image identifies the two men as “Tonquaways of Texas” is further evidence, apart from the photographic style of the print and mounting, that this image dates from a time before their expulsion from Texas. The Tonkawa have endured, despite their version of the Trail of Tears. According to the official website of the Tonkawa tribe, the Waco (Wichita) name for the Tonkawa is “Tonkaweya,” which means “They All Stay Together,” and the Tonkawa’s own name for themselves is “Tickanwa•tic,” which means “Real People.” Interpretive Commentary Interpretive Commentary In the case of photographs of Native Americans from the 19th century, it is always worth asking if they have full agency in the representation of themselves in any given image. So, for example, in this photograph of the two Tonkawa men, we can ask: For whom was this image made? It is a carte de visite, which means it was printed from a glass plate negatives, and so many copies could have been made by the photographer. The fact that it bears the title “Tonquaways of Texas” indicates that the images was indeed printed for a clientele other than these two men, who would not need this label. As such, it was probably sold to white patrons of the photographer as a quasi-ethnographic souvenir. But even if that were the case, photographic images such as this, especially quite early ones, provide important and rare evidence about the lives and cultures of Native peoples. 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 Figure057 Title A name given to the resource “Tonquaways of Texas” 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. Greg French Collection Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Unknown Photographer Photographer https://mirrorofrace.bc.edu/files/original/62fade620a54b00970dfb82bc922e346.jpg 45beb16fa420ba5af1c9cde821932749 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) Factual Commentary Factual Commentary In the case, behind the image, is an original period inscription in pencil: "Abraham, Slave Master." There is no more information about this person, apart from the details of the image itself. We can date the image, based on the type of photographic process (ambrotype) as well as the clothing style, to the late 1850s, possibly a bit earlier or later. In his hand, Abraham holds a long-handled, braided leather whip. This detail, combined with the title "Slave Master," probably indicates that this is an occupational portrait and that he was a slave overseer rather a slave owner. If he were the propertied owner of slaves, he would probably not be identified simply as "Abraham." The overseer was charged with the day-to-day supervision and discipline of the slaves (hence the symbolism of the whip) on larger properties where the owner both needed and could afford to employ others to manage the workforce. Interpretive Commentary Interpretive Commentary There is a strange irony to the "Slave Master" in this photograph being named "Abraham" at just about the time that another Abraham, Abraham Lincoln, was being elected to the Presidency of the United States, the Abraham whose Emancipation Proclamation of January 1, 1863 would soon bring an end to the careers of all slave overseers. The irony is compounded by the resonance of the name with the Abraham whom three religions - Judaism, Christianity, and Islam - consider the origin of their monotheistic faiths, religions which, at their best, see that faith as a foundation for freedom. What makes this photograph so powerfully terrible is the coiled brutality that looms behind it, past the stillness of the image: in the tightly clenched hand that grips the whip, in the icy stare of what must have been bright blue eyes, given how light they are in this black white photograph. This is an occupational image, one in which the person portrayed chose to sit with a tool of the trade that most fully symbolized and embodied his identity and profession, and so it is fair to conclude that Abraham took genuine pride in his ability to wield this whip effectively in the everyday duties of his work. It is worth asking, how far have we truly come from a world in which such brutality and dehumanization could be a matter of professional pride? For a slideshow of images that explore the violence, both explicit and implied, in this period of American history, see here. 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 Figure100 Title A name given to the resource Abraham, Slave Master Subject The topic of the resource Abraham, Slave Master Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource circa late 1850s Type The nature or genre of the resource Studio Portrait, Occupational Rights Holder A person or organization owning or managing rights over the resource. Cowans Auctions, Inc., Cincinnati, OH Collection Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Unknown Photographer https://mirrorofrace.bc.edu/files/original/e4dad503533856b0973bbb15910ca658.tif 438bce92861163b917df646467a1fbea 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 Adah Isaacs Menken (1835-1868) was a dancer, performer and poet. Her origins were obscure even in her lifetime, but she seems to have been born as Adelaide or Ada C. McCord in Louisiana, and she took the stage name Ada Bertha Theodore until her first marriage. She had a short but sensational career as an actress, her fame due as much to her own genius for self-promotion as to talent. Her most famous role was playing a man in Byron’s Mazeppa, wearing a flesh-colored body stocking to appear nearly nude, a shocking thing to do at the time, and this photograph portrays her in that role. Menken wore her hair short, smoked at her press conferences, and flaunted her connections with famous men. She married six times. Her first marriage was to Alexander Isaacs Menken, who was Jewish and for whom she converted; she remained in the faith until her death. Her origins are disputed, with reports of lineage that includes a Spanish Jewish father, a New Orleans creole mother, and a free Black father, among other accounts. Menken seems to have reveled in this kind of dramatic ambiguity. From 1864 to 1866, Menken took her Mazeppa role to London and Paris, where it had enormous success, in part due to her notoriety, but attention waned as the novelty wore off. Menken died in Paris in 1868. The photographer Charles Reutlinger (1816-1881?) was born in Karlsruhe, Germany, and opened a studio in Paris in 1850, where his clients included the upper echelons of society. Menken visited his studio during her European theatrical tour. Menken would have used copies of this carte de visit for publicity and sales for the Mazeppa production. A contemporary (but not necessarily reliable) account of Menken’s life may be read here. A collection of Menken’s poetry, Infelicia, may be read here.Adah Issacs Menken managed to flout many of the most hardened conventions of her time: she converted to marry a Jew, she smoked, she wrote and published on topics a "lady" would not discuss in that era, she appeared on stage nearly nude, she divorced five times, she dressed as a man for roles on the stage -- to name some of her transgressions. Add to this the strong possibility that she was mixed race and her career raises important questions about the performative nature of both racial and gender identity. What did it take to "pass" over these lines as boldly as Menken did? How was it possible for her to have public success at all when she violated some of the most stubborn taboos of her society? Interpretive Commentary Interpretive Commentary Adah Issacs Menken managed to flout many of the most hardened conventions of her time: she converted to Judaism, she smoked, she wrote and published on topics a "lady" would not discuss in that era, she appeared on stage nearly nude, she divorced five times, she dressed as a man for roles on the stage -- to name some of her transgressions. Add to this the strong possibility that she was mixed race and her career raises important questions about the performative nature of both racial and gender identity. What did it take to "pass" over these lines as boldly as Menken did? How was it possible for her to have public success at all when she violated some of the most stubborn taboos of her society? For a valuable study of Menken and her transgressive life and career, see Performing Menken: Adah Isaacs Menken and the Birth of American Celebrity, by Renée Sentilles. A recent (2011) biography for a general audience is A Dangerous Woman: The Life, Loves, and Scandals of Adah Isaacs Menken, 1835-1868, America's Original Superstar, by Michael and Barbara Foster. 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 Figure095 Title A name given to the resource Adah Isaacs Menken (1835-68) Subject The topic of the resource Adah Isaacs Menken (1835-68) Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Charles Reutlinger (Paris) Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource circa 1866 Type The nature or genre of the resource studio portrait, theatrical performer Rights Holder A person or organization owning or managing rights over the resource. Greg French Collection https://mirrorofrace.bc.edu/files/original/3b28e0ccd3976457631d88aa8541b0ba.tif 0d7e24d1234c41e98c501291bd0fd22c 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 Otto Giers, right, and his father Carl, a German immigrant, documented life in Nashville from 1855 through the early 20th century. Otto Giers became quite successful as a portraitist; compilations of his photographs of Nashville are still in print. This staged amateur theatrical includes a mock hanging of an African American. Note also the man holding a pistol on the man being hanged. Interpretive Commentary Interpretive Commentary Although the violence depicted here seems all in jest, it echoes the very real and widespread use of lynching in post-Civil War America. Lynching served as a form of terrorism to enforce white supremacy well into the 20th century. While such lynchings occurred outside the legal system, that system proved either unwilling or unable to stop them or to prosecute those guilty of murder by lynching. In large part, this was because the white communities involved often supported this activity and would not assist investigations and would not testify or convict the perpetrators in a jury trial. For a powerful photographic history of lynching in the late 19th and 20th centuries, see the book Without Sanctuary: Lynching Photography in America, by James Allen. The Without Sanctuary project also has a website exhibition of its photographs. What this work demonstrates is that for several generations, the extraordinary brutality of lynching was openly embraced by much of society: by the late 19th century, when snapshot cameras became common, onlookers would take photographs that were turned into picture-postcards that they would send to friends and family. Lynchings were therefore a kind of terror as entertainment. For that reason, the image we see here, even although made "in fun," participates in the same discourse where the violent subjugation of Blacks could be seen as a form of amusement. When extraordinary injustice can be seen as funny, that assists in the perpetuation of the injustice, because it means that the community does not take it seriously as the outrage it is. A question worth asking here is, to what extent do fun and play contribute to systems of injustice? In the 19th century, and well into the 20th, when there was no radio or television, amateur theatricals ― in which student, family, and community groups would put on informal (and sometimes quite formal and elaborate) performances ― served as a form of popular entertainment. Such "plays" allowed participants to transgress traditional roles and ordinary behavior, such as we see here: the men playfully dress as woman, while at the same time they playfully hang a Black man. So, does such play undermine the norms, by allowing participants to imagine roles beyond the norm, or does it reinforce those norms by showing how ridiculous it is to imagine things being any other way than they are? 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 Figure073 Title A name given to the resource amateur theatrical group Subject The topic of the resource unknown Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource W.G. Thuss, Emil Kollein and Otto Giers (Nashville, Tennessee) Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource circa 1880 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/af24d6c88fe59bccc20093cb567fdb79.jpg 38601c61421433e58def77da3e88d22d 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 Benjamin Drew (1812-1908) was an abolitionist native to Plymouth, Massachusetts. He was an active participant in the work of the Underground Railroad. In 1856, Drew published an influential book entitled A North-Side View of Slavery. The Refugee: Narratives of Fugitive Slaves in Canada Related by Themselves. The book was highly unusual in that Drew interviewed former slaves who had escaped to Canada, and then published their accounts (including the one by Harriet Tubman) more or less in their own words. The book is still in print, and it can also be viewed in its entirety online here. Drew wrote his book in part as a response to another book, one published by Nehemiah Adams, A South-Side View of Slavery; or, Three Months at the South in 1854. Adams, a northerner, wrote a defense of what he deemed to be the moral benefits of slavery for the slaves themselves and against the radicalism of abolitionism that would threaten the unity of the nation. A complete scan of the Adams book may be read online here. The paper pasted on the inside cover of the case reads as follows: "Benj. Drew (3rd), Born Nov. 28, 1812. This picture taken in Plymouth, when he was about 25. For Chas. Davis Drew. From his Grandpa Drew, Oct. 7, 1877." So, it seems this photograph was given as a present by Benjamin Drew himself to his grandson Charles. But Drew could not have been 25 in this image, because that would have been in 1837, and the announcement of the invention of photography was not made until 1839 in Paris, and the art was not brought to the United States until 1840. The date of this image is closer to 1845, making Drew about 33 here. A portrait of Drew taken in 1900 may be viewed here. Interpretive Commentary Interpretive Commentary What is remarkable about Benjamin Drew’s work as an author is that he endeavored to let free blacks speak with their own voices, giving testimony about their lives under slavery, their escapes, and their experience of life as free people, living in Canada, safe from the threat of kidnapping by slave-catchers. For an exhibition of abolitionists, click here. 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 Figure099 Title A name given to the resource Benjamin Drew Subject The topic of the resource Benjamin Drew 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 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 Unknown Photographer https://mirrorofrace.bc.edu/files/original/37155faf5d6d2a6fc7737f90a6f1aa7c.tif 589f4e0b92263015d46a1ad2aa430b39 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 We do not know who the child or the woman in this photograph were, or where it was taken; however, the woman wears traditional Chinese clothing. Tens of thousands of Chinese immigrated to the United States after the Gold Rush to California of the late 1840s. It is likely that a white family employed this woman as a minder for their child. Interpretive Commentary Interpretive Commentary One of the ways that the races of the 19th century mixed most closely was in the domestic world of child care. For rich white families, it was a mark of status and success to be able to employ a person of another race as a domestic servant, for this both declared their wealth and served as a way to distinguish whiteness from the supposedly inferior social groups. And yet the intimacy of child care must have compromised this sense of distinctness and separation in many ways. The woman in this photograph seems austere, but she carefully holds the tiny, fragile toddler in her pose perched on a table, and the child seems to lean in to the woman for protection and support in what might well have been a fighting experience of staying still for the camera. 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 Figure034 Title A name given to the resource child on table with woman 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. Greg French Collection Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Unknown Photographer Photographer https://mirrorofrace.bc.edu/files/original/64c59179e808335a8543769e12402e33.jpg 1ce6a2223a1162647d72dc3458e359f9 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 Half Plate (4.25 x 5.5 inches) Factual Commentary Factual Commentary This street scene is by James Presley Ball (1825-1904), a successful African American photographer. Ball learned the daguerreian process in 1845, and then spent most of the next 25 years in Cincinnati, where his business was successful enough to allow him to travel to Europe in 1856. He was an abolitionist, and his large and elegant studios hosted both white and black clients. This scene depicts a street in Ball’s home city, Cincinnati, featuring the building of a candy manufacturer, Myers and Co., Confectioners, along with some of the employers, and perhaps the owner himself (we do not know if Mr. Myers is one of the men standing outside). If you click on the image to the left, you can zoom in to see the extraordinary detail of this daguerreotype, including the writing on the hand-painted signs and a youthful, well-dressed black man, leaning on a post. Barely visible behind him is another black youth in a white shirt, pushing a wheelbarrow with crates of goods on it. On the street is a wagon, where the crates are being loaded for delivery. They are marked “CANDY, Myers & Co., 50 lbs.” Interpretive Commentary Interpretive Commentary J. P. Ball was a remarkably skilled photographer, as this extraordinary daguerreotype demonstrates. In the bright light of full day, Ball produced an image with beautiful tones and contrasts that even captures a sense of movement without the tell-tale blurring of a long exposure time. The resolution and detail in the photograph is exceptional, and such effects required a practitioner who had both the talent to compose a shot and the technical mastery to bring it off, both in preparing the plate and in understanding all the conditions of light and subject matter. Ball’s mastery of the process explains why he was such a successful portrait photographer, too. We cannot know for certain, but it is likely that Myers and Company commissioned J. P. Ball to make this portrait of their business, probably from a sense of pride at is success ― hence the delivery under preparation and the sense of activity. While not exactly a documentary photograph, because it was probably made on commission and not to record historical facts, early images such as this of city life are rare, and J. P. Ball executed this one with great skill. The best scholarly work on James Presley Ball is by Deborah Willis: J. P. Ball: Daguerrean and Studio Photographer (Routledge, 1993). 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 Figure013 Title A name given to the resource Cincinnati street scene Subject The topic of the resource Cincinnati street scene Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource James Presley Ball (American, dates uncertain) 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 city scene, commercial Rights Holder A person or organization owning or managing rights over the resource. Greg French Collection 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