American Historical Ephemera & Photography, Featuring Property from the James Milgram, M.D., Collection of Broadsides, Ephemeral Americana & Historical Documents

2 1/8 x 3 1/4 in. CDV on cardstock mount (spotting and toning to image, light wear to edges). Verso bears Kimball's imprint along with printed statements, including: "The nett proceeds from the sale of these Photographs will be devoted exclusively to the education of colored people in the Department of the Gulf, now under the command of Major-General-Banks."

A studio portrait of Isaac and Rosa Downs standing arm in arm. The two subjects were part of a larger group of five children and three adults, including Wilson Chinn, that had been brought north from Louisiana by Colonel George H. Hanks and freed by Major General Nathaniel P. Banks.

Several CDVs of this type were sold by the National Freedman's Association in 1864 and 1865 in order to garner the support of Northern whites who had no sympathy for enslaved African Americans, but were shocked and outraged at the sight of "white" enslaved people. Images such as these were used to stir the outrage among Northern audiences and renew their support of abolition and commitment to the war effort. The subjects in the CDVs appeared in other photographs and periodical articles produced at this time.