Figure 5

Citation

George Kendall Warren (Boston). “Charles Sumner.” 1874. Gregory Fried Collection. Mirror of Race, 11 Feb. 2021, mirrorofrace.bc.edu/items/show/138. Accessed 18 May 2024.

Title

Charles Sumner

Subject

Charles Sumner

Creator

George Kendall Warren (Boston)

Date

1874

Type

Studio Portrait

Identifier

Figure 5

Rights Holder

Gregory Fried Collection

Original Format

Cabinet card, albumen print

Factual Commentary

Charles Sumner (1811-1874), portrayed here late in life, was a long-serving “Radical Republican” senator from Massachusetts: a staunch opponent of slavery before the Civil War, he lobbied President Lincoln to recruit Black soldiers and to make the abolition of slavery the prime and explicit aim of the war after it started. During the period of Reconstruction after the war, Sumner fought to ensure equal political and social rights for African Americans, and he also opposed discriminatory legislation against Asian immigration.