Learning is Wealth

Learning is Wealth. Wilson, Charley, Rebecca & Rosa. Slaves from New Orleans.

Charles Paxson (photographer)
1859 – 1865, New York
Carte de visite, 10 cm x 6 cm

Inscribed on the reverse, ‘Chas. Paxson, Photographer, New York. Entered according to Act of Congress in the year 1864… The nett [sic] proceeds from the sale of these photographs will be devoted to the education of Coloured People in the department of the Gulf…’.

During the American Civil War Abolitionists used photographs such as this, depicting mixed race slave children, as shock tactics against Southern slavery.

© The American Museum in Britain (Bath, UK)

Accession reference: The American Museum in Britain (Bath, UK),1965.193.6