2 10 101 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/f495abfbb6008763f21e99523f654d7a.tif 43c7fa8f0ae118466edee25152ce9077 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 Gender Benders 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. Exhibition Name Name of the exhibition in which the item appears Gender Benders Original Format The type of object, such as painting, sculpture, paper, photo, and additional data Tintype Factual Commentary Factual Commentary Albert Cashier (1843-1915), seated on the left, emigrated from Ireland to America as Jennie Hodgers. In 1862, Hodgers assumed the name Albert Cashier to enlist in the 95th Illinois infantry, serving through the war undiscovered and fighting in many battles. For half a century after the war, Cashier maintained an identity as a man, living in Saunemin, a small town in Illinois, drawing a military pension. When Cashier’s biological identity as female was revealed after an accident, he was forced to wear a dress, but former comrades rallied to him to ensure he kept his pension and was buried in his uniform. For a deposition in that case, see here. Cashier’s career is documented in They Fought Like Demons: Women Soldiers in the Civil War, by De Anne Blanton and Lauren Cook. 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 Figure 5 Title A name given to the resource Albert Cashier and unknown sergeant Subject The topic of the resource Albert Cashier and unknown sergeant 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. The Gilder Lehrman Collection Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource photographer Unknown Photographer Photographer 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/c0da68ae8c2ada2e20eefea46dcfa9a2.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 Violence 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. Exhibition Name Name of the exhibition in which the item appears Violence Original Format The type of object, such as painting, sculpture, paper, photo, and additional data Carte de visite (albumen print) Factual Commentary Factual Commentary Amateur theatricals, where family or friends would put on their own plays, were a popular form of entertainment in the latter part of the 19th century, and groups would often commemorate their performances with a photograph. In this one, the player act out a lynching, with the African American on the left being hanged by the neck with a rope while one of the party holds a gun to him; even the photographer, Otto Giers, sits in his own photograph at the far right — holding the rope. This seems all in fun, but one must remember the horrific context: in the world of Jim Crow after the end of Reconstruction, even minor infractions of the racial norms that enforced white supremacy could result in the public murder, usually without any legal consequences for the killers. 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 Figure 7 Title A name given to the resource Amateur theatrical scene, with mock lynching Subject The topic of the resource Amateur theatrical scene, with mock lynching 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/19b35c45451f81732caf827235488c1a.jpg e6ddaeae91de156617d5af6b3dd49d38 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 Coming to America 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. Exhibition Name Name of the exhibition in which the item appears Coming to America Original Format The type of object, such as painting, sculpture, paper, photo, and additional data Tintype Factual Commentary Factual Commentary There is something touching about this image of a young woman — just a girl, really — in a traditional, local European costume, waving an American flag as she comes ashore in an elaborate studio prop of a rowboat. It is as if she had rowed herself over from Europe to America. In this naïve hopefulness, she seems embody the most positive aspirations of the waves of millions of immigrants who came from Europe in the latter part of the 19th century. If any viewer can identify what region her costume comes from, we would like to hear from you. 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 Figure 1 Title A name given to the resource Anonymous woman Subject The topic of the resource Anonymous woman Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource anonymous photographer Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1870s 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/5e6cc9ba059dc960ff234a8f8317201d.pdf 6a26333cebfaff66d067f3a7ff9dc6f9 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 Critical Analysis 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 As White as Their Masters: Visualizing the Color Line Subject The topic of the resource As White as Their Masters: Visualizing the Color Line Description An account of the resource A dis­cus­sion of the ambi­gu­ity of the color line in nineteenth-cen­tury visual rep­re­sen­ta­tions of race. Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Carol Goodman 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/bdb958c2b52855a20c607ae043cceb01.pdf 8c44e0f6e4b861cf6c97fed92a6cac10 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 Critical Analysis 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 Black Civil War Portraiture in Context Description An account of the resource An inves­ti­ga­tion into the kinds of mean­ings that pho­to­graphic por­traits of black Civil War sol­diers had at the time of their mak­ing as well as some of the chal­lenges that such a recov­ery poses for his­to­ri­ans today. Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Erina Duganne Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource April 5, 2012 https://mirrorofrace.bc.edu/files/original/41c9553201716ef16e386cf7779fc70f.jpg 768bdf8182f1ece626358dca50b5b8f6 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 Violence 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. Exhibition Name Name of the exhibition in which the item appears Violence Original Format The type of object, such as painting, sculpture, paper, photo, and additional data Daguerreotype Factual Commentary Factual Commentary This boy, perhaps 10 years old, holds a toy gun. It is rare to find early photographs of children with guns, and even rarer with toy guns. But in contrast to the previous image, which is unusual in showing a black man with a gun, what is not unusual here is the implied context, one in which white boys would expect to grow up in a world where guns were the mark of manhood and power. For this boy, the power of the gun was assumed as a birthright, if here only in play. But play can make the man. Play is how we learn our roles. 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 Figure 9 Title A name given to the resource Boy with toy gun Subject The topic of the resource Boy with toy gun 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. Gregory Fried Collection Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Unknown Photographer Photographer