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Dec 1866 Zion School for Colored Children, Charleston, S.C.

Catalog Data

Original artist:
Waud, A. R.  Search this
Publisher:
Harper & Brothers  Search this
Physical Description:
paper (overall material)
ink (overall material)
Measurements:
overall: 11 1/2 in x 16 1/4 in; 29.21 cm x 41.275 cm
print: 11 in x 16 in; 27.94 cm x 40.64 cm
image: 9 in x 14 in; 22.86 cm x 35.56 cm
Object Name:
periodical print
newspaper clipping
Date published:
1866-12-15
Description:
This print was made from a woodblock engraving and appeared in the Harper’s Weekly issue dated December 15, 1866. The image depicts a large class at the Zion School in Charleston, South Carolina. An African American teacher is standing and addressing dozens of well-dressed African American children who are seated in long rows.
The Zion School was a Freemen School under the direction of the American Missionary Association. Francis Cardozo was its first Director. During Reconstruction, Northern freedmen's aid organizations began establishing schools in the former states of the Confederacy. These benevolent organizations raised funds, recruited teachers, and attempted to keep the future of the freed people before the Northern public. The accompanying caption states that: “It is a peculiarity of this school that it is entirely under the superintendence of colored teachers.”
The original artist was Alfred Rudolf Waud (1828-1891), a British-born American illustrator. He studied at the Royal Academy of Arts before immigrating to the United States in 1850. According to Britannica, Waud’s “lively and detailed sketches of scenes from the Civil War, which he covered as a press correspondent, captured the war’s dramatic intensity and furnished him with a reputation as one of the preeminent artist-journalists of his era.”
Harper’s Weekly was an American political magazine based in New York City and was published by Harper & Brothers from 1857-1916. It featured foreign and domestic news, fiction, essays on many subjects, and humor, as well as illustrations.
Credit Line:
Gift of Dr. Richard Lodish American School Collection
ID Number:
2017.3049.105
Nonaccession number:
2017.3049
Catalog number:
2017.3049.105
See more items in:
Home and Community Life: Education
Data Source:
National Museum of American History
GUID:
http://n2t.net/ark:/65665/ng49ca746b5-2ac8-704b-e053-15f76fa0b4fa
EDAN-URL:
edanmdm:nmah_1969043