(Clicking on most images that follow will show a screen size enlargement)

---

Americans in the daguerreian era, though more familiar with death than Americans today, were equally devastated by loss of beloved children and adults. Their haunting postmortem images simply served to preserve and focus memory of loved ones within the mirror of the daguerreian plate.

High rates of mortality, necessitated frequent demand for the postmortem. Daguerreian photographers often specialized in this enterprise and competed in their ability to make the dead appear asleep.

This man may have been free or he may have been a slave domestic whose long years of service and fidelity moved his master to commission this daguerreotype in remembrance of one who otherwise would never have been photographed.

A postmortem photograph of an elderly mulatto man found in New Orleans. A sixth plate daguerreotype, taken about 1850, photographer unknown. (Click on the image to view further details) [Daniel Fink, "Funerary, Posthumous, Postmortem Daguerreotypes," The Daguerreian Annual 1989, 54-65; Jay Ruby, "Postmortem Portraiture in America," History of Photography 8 (July 1984), 201-21; John Wood, ed., The Daguerreotype: A Sesquicentennial Celebration (Iowa City: University of Iowa Press, 1989), 25-26; see also, Stanley Burns, Sleeping Beauty, (Pasadena: Twelvetrees Press, 1991).]

"Aunt Jane and Uncle Jerry," domestic slaves owned by a Norfolk, Virginia family; photographed about 1848, upon the occasion of their "marriage." A quarter plate daguerreotype, probably taken in the Jesse H. Whitehurst gallery. (Click on the image to view further details)

This image appears to document the allowance of a degree of marital status (not legally binding) to recognize a slaves's expression of sentiment, companionship, love. To sanctify their union within the institution of marriage also implied recognition of slaves' spiritual nature. Christianity supplied moral and religious instruction. Southerners attempted to justify racial enslavement, in part by claiming elevation through Christianity. [These slaves belonged to John Andrew Simpson of Chesterfield County and Norfolk, Virginia. According to family tradition, during John's service in the Confederate Army, "Aunt Jane and Uncle Jerry" cared for his family. This daguerreotype is accompanied by a carte de visite copy photograph, imprinted T. W. Clark, 187 & 189 Main Street, Norfolk, Virginia. Written on back of this copy are the names of both slaves.]

The existence of photographs like the four preceding, apparently demonstrate that even within slavery, "the barriers of bondage and caste could not prevent decent human beings from showing sympathy and compassion for one another." Such relationships between master and slave were never as equals. At best, long and faithful service brought honorary designation as "Aunt" and "Uncle". Slaves were rarely given a last name.

[Kenneth M. Stamp, The Peculiar Institution: Slavery in the Antebellum South, (New York: Vintage Books, 1956), 327-28, 379.]

Her light skin color was itself evidence of miscegenation. She was quite possibly a free woman and as such, the photograph would contribute little to a study of slavery. Yet the likelihood remains that she was enslaved. If so, this woman's attractive looks and fancy dress imply she could have been owned or hired as a slave mistress. Interracial sexual exploitation, along with brutal punishment and separation of families, was a terrible aspect of slavery. The practice was far from unknown throughout the antebellum South and existed with special visibility in New Orleans. If the daguerreotype of this woman could for a moment be interpreted in such a fashion, then commissioned by her escort, it would document white recognition of beauty and attraction in their slaves.

An attractive and well dressed mulatto woman from New Orleans. A sixth plate daguerreotype, taken about 1855, case stamped: F. Moissenet, #1 Camp Street. (Click on the image to view further details) [Stamp, 350.]

An albumen photograph, (5 1/4 x 7 3/8 inches) circa 1859-60, taken by Julian Vannerson (and Smith), 77 Main Street, Richmond, Virginia. Inscription beneath the photograph reads: "Made free by the inhabitants of Richmond for services rendered at the burning of the Theater in Richmond at which he saved by his untiring exertions 36 lives. The fire occurred the 26th of September 1836. Gilbert Hunt to his young friend and master Henry Orth." (Click on the image to view further details) [For discrepancies between the inscription on this photograph and Hunt's actual life, see; Marie Tyler McGraw and Gregg D. Kimball, In Bondage and Freedom, (Richmond, Virginia: Valentine Museum, 1988) 54-58, (an exhibit at the Valentine Museum). In 1859 a biographical pamphlet portrayed Gilbert Hunt as the hero of the Richmond Theater fire and as an impoverished old man. During 1863 he died in Civil War Richmond.]

Skilled craftmanship (blacksmith's hammer) enhanced a slave's value to his owner. This image also documents the rare opportunity that existed for some measure of reward to recognize a slave's courage and heroism. Hunt's missing button and patched knee imply that this reward had limitation. Although technically not a unique photograph depicting a moment in slavery, Gilbert Hunt's portrait ranks far above most other images of freedmen. For over half a century, Hunt interacted with slave, free black, and white populations of Richmond, Virginia. Reaching 135 years across history, his visual presence enhances any investigation of slavery.

The Afro-American player may have been free when he posed for this photograph during or shortly after the Civil War. Presumably however, his musical talent developed during a life of slavery. The familiarity apparent between both men in this image communicates the impression that they played much together. Perhaps though slavery divided them by race and station into master and body servant, musical virtuosity allied them. Artistic genius is a fairly certain route to recognition and status. This image visually documents the pinnacle of elevation achievable for a slave (or an ex-slave) in mid-19th century America. At least within the confines of this one frozen moment in time, both players pose as equals in the virtu of their artistry.

Cased sixth-plate tintype, ca. 1865. Found in Richmond, Virginia. (Click on the image to view further details)

These seven images provide a contemporary glimpse of Southern slaves; nevertheless as historical sources they share two distinct limitations. First, each image is atypical. The only slaves pictured are domestics and artisans who comprised a slave aristocracy. Second, these images are all products of biased posing, and allow only the view of slavery intentionally provided. Six of these images are white-posed for a white audience, one may be black-posed for a white audience. All still fall short of the ideal source.

---

Bleeding and defensive from abolitionist attack during the 1840s and 1850s, Southerners just did not intentionally permit photographic record of the full reality of chattel slavery. Unintentional evidence however, occasionally appears.



CONTINUE to Conclusion

---

BACK to page 3
BACK TO PHOTOGRAPHY ESSAYS INDEX
BACK TO HOMEPAGE

---

Text and digital images copyright (1997). All rights reserved. Copying or redistribution in any manner is prohibited. Any public or commercial use of these materials without prior written permission is a violation of copyright law.

---

TINTYPE OR FERROTYPE

Invented in 1856 by Hamilton Smith, an Ohio professor of chemistry and physics, the tintype was an offshoot of the daguerreotype and ambrotype. As with the daguerreotype, the image was secured on a metal plate exposed in the camera, but the metal was iron instead of copper and it was lacquered with a black or brown japan varnish instead of being coated with silver. As with the glass plate of an ambrotype, the metal plate of a tintype was sensitized with collodion and silver nitrate before camera exposure. Until 1865, tintypes were housed in the same cases as daguerreotypes and ambrotypes.

The tintype's popularity expanded during the Civil War. Tintypes were easier to take and could better withstand vicissitudes of the mail. Tintypes remained popular until after 1900.

(PLEASE USE BACK BUTTON ON BROWSER TO RETURN TO TEXT)

---