Free and about to be Free
African Americans on the Eve of the Civil War
two excerpts from Jackie Napolean Wilson, Hidden Witness: African-American Images from the Dawn of Photography to the Civil War (to be published in January 2000 by St. Martin's Press) as they appeared in the November issue of Smithsonian Magazine, pp. 136-141. Provided for educational and book promotion purposes only within the copyright doctrine of educational fair use. [ecp-26-684]
 

A free black woman from Baltimore (ca. 1855) in mourning.  Note the Battle Monument backdrop.

Portion of a photograph of the slaves of Confederate General Thomas F. Drayton shown with one of their Yankee liberators. Note the cotton gin on the left and the woman carrying cotton on her head on the right.

GO TO IMAGES FROM THE 1950'S SAMPLED FROM THE PRIVATELY OWNED PHILLIPS COLLECTION.