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Catalog Data

Artist:
Unidentified Artist  Search this
Copy after:
Myron H. Kimball, active 1850s - 1860s  Search this
Sitter:
Wilson Chinn, c. 1803 - after 1864  Search this
Charles Taylor, c. 1855 - ?  Search this
Augusta Broujey, c. 1854 - ?  Search this
Mary Johnson, active 1863  Search this
Isaac White, c. 1836 - ?  Search this
Rebecca Huger, c. 1852 - ?  Search this
Robert Whitehead, active 1863  Search this
Rosina Downs, 1865 - ?  Search this
Medium:
Wood engraving on paper
Dimensions:
Image: 24.2 × 36.3 cm (9 1/2 × 14 5/16")
Sheet: 28.2 × 39.9 cm (11 1/8 × 15 11/16")
Type:
Print
Place:
United States\New York\Kings\New York
Date:
1863
Exhibition Label:
When this engraving (based on the nearby photograph by Myron H. Kimball) was featured in the January 30, 1863, issue of Harper’s Weekly, the caption noted, “THE CHILDREN ARE FROM THE SCHOOLS ESTABLISHED IN NEW ORLEANS, BY ORDER OF MAJOR-GENERAL BANKS.” An accompanying letter to the editor provided brief, evocative biographies for each of the individuals depicted. Included in these texts was the fact that Wilson Chinn had been branded on the forehead with the letters “V.B.M.”—the initials of his former enslaver, Volsey B. Marmillion—and that Rosina Downs’s father was serving “in the rebel army” while her mother lived “in a poor hut.”
Harper’s Weekly also published a scathing article entitled “Slave Children,” which decried the actions of white, so-called “gentlemen” of the South who, over multiple generations had “seduced the most friendless and defenseless of women,” and doomed their children to life in bondage.
Cuando este grabado (basado en la fotografía cercana de Myron H. Kimball) se publicó el 30 de enero de 1863 en Harper’s Weekly, la explicación decía: “LOS NIÑOS SON DE LAS ESCUELAS ESTABLECIDAS EN NUEVA ORLEANS POR ORDEN DEL MAYOR GENERAL BANKS”. En una carta del editor se incluyeron biografías breves y emotivas de cada retratado. Según algunos datos, a Wilson Chinn le habían marcado en la frente con un hierro candente las iniciales “V.B.M.” (por su antiguo esclavizador Volsey B. Marmillion) y el padre de Rosina Downs estaba sirviendo en “el ejército rebelde” mientras su madre vivía “en una pobre choza”.
Harper’s Weekly también publicó un mordaz artículo titulado “Niños esclavos”, que impugnaba la conducta de los llamados “caballeros” blancos del sur, quienes a lo largo de generaciones habían “seducido a las mujeres más solas e indefensas” y habían condenado a sus hijos a la esclavitud.
Topic:
Interior  Search this
Architecture\Window  Search this
Costume\Dress Accessory\Handkerchief  Search this
Print  Search this
Personal Attribute\Tattoo  Search this
Wilson Chinn: Male  Search this
Wilson Chinn: Society and Social Change\Enslaved person  Search this
Mary Johnson: Female  Search this
Mary Johnson: Society and Social Change\Enslaved person  Search this
Robert Whitehead: Society and Social Change\Enslaved person  Search this
Charles Taylor: Male  Search this
Charles Taylor: Society and Social Change\Enslaved person  Search this
Augusta Broujey: Female  Search this
Augusta Broujey: Society and Social Change\Enslaved person  Search this
Rebecca Huger: Female  Search this
Rosina Downs: Female  Search this
Rosina Downs: Society and Social Change\Enslaved person  Search this
Isaac White: Male  Search this
Isaac White: Society and Social Change\Enslaved person  Search this
Portrait  Search this
Credit Line:
National Portrait Gallery, Smithsonian Institution; gift in honor of Ann M. Shumard
Object number:
NPG.2022.122
Restrictions & Rights:
CC0
See more items in:
National Portrait Gallery Collection
Exhibition:
Out of Many: Portraits from 1600 to 1900
On View:
NPG, East Gallery 111
Data Source:
National Portrait Gallery
GUID:
http://n2t.net/ark:/65665/sm406fb31e5-be77-4cb7-a477-0216812f899b
EDAN-URL:
edanmdm:npg_NPG.2022.122