American Historical Ephemera & Photography

Fannie Virginia Casseopia Lawrence. Additional details printed below, "A Reedemed Slave Child, 5 years of age. Redeemed in Virginia, by Catherine S. Lawrence; baptized in Brooklyn, at Plymouth Church, by Henry Ward Beecher." Boston, MA: J.W. Black, n.d. 2 1/4 x 3 1/4 in. CDV on cardstock mount (toning, some soiling to print and mount; mount trimmed, edge and corner wear). 

Several CDVs of this type were sold by the National Freedman's Association in 1864 and 1865 in order to garner the anti-slavery support of Northern whites who in some cases had little sympathy for black slaves, but were shocked and outraged at the sight of white slaves. The children in the photographs appear in other photographs and periodical articles of this time and are described as the immoral offspring of slave-owners and light-complexioned slaves, who were probably born in the same manner.

[With:] Studio portrait of young boy in uniform, with toy rifle and sword in hand, standing beside a drum. Brooklyn, NY: Rawson, n.d. (toning, some soiling to print and mount). -- CDV of Tom Thumb and Lavinia Warren. Uncredited. (toning to print and mount, spotting and soilin; edge and corner wear to mount). -- CDV of a "Chinese 'Joss house'" (period inscription to verso). China: S. Sidney, n.d. 

Together, 4 CDVs, 2 1/4 x 3 3/4 in., or smaller, on cardstock mounts.