← Previous Item

Figure 6

Citation

photographer Unknown Photographer Photographer. “David James and Martha Avery Van Meter.” 1859. Gregory Fried Collection. Mirror of Race, 11 Feb. 2021, mirrorofrace.bc.edu/items/show/139. Accessed 18 May 2024.

Title

David James and Martha Avery Van Meter

Subject

David James and Martha Avery Van Meter

Creator

photographer Unknown Photographer Photographer

Date

1859

Type

Studio Portrait

Identifier

Figure 6

Rights Holder

Gregory Fried Collection

Original Format

Ambortype, sixth plate (2.75 x 3.25 inches)

Factual Commentary

The cause of abolitionism had many adherents beyond the famous names. David James Van Meter of Rock Island, Illinois, poses here in a double portrait with his wife Martha; he holds W. O. Blake’s The History of Slavery and the Slave Trade. Published in 1857, Blake’s History is an exhaustive treatment of the subject, from the ancient world to contemporary political debates, that underlines the horrors of the middle passage in the slave trade to the Americas. David Van Meter displays the title on the spine of the book to announce his moral and political principles.