[EARLY PHOTOGRAPHY]. Radical Members of the So. Ca. Legislature. [Columbia], SC: J. G. Gibbes, 1868.

CDV on cardstock mount. A composite image featuring portraits of 68 members of the reconstructed South Carolina Legislature, many of whom were African American. Printed caption at bottom of image, subjects identified in print on verso. Copyright printed on mount recto.

Purposed to incite fear and inflame anti-black sentiment among white Americans, some versions of this carte include printed statistics on mount recto (not featured here), including the majority ratio of "negroes or mulattoes" to white legislators, numbers of the men who could read and write, and the number of pictured legislators who did not pay taxes. Though the claims were untrue, they contributed to the anti-Black sentiments that were already alive and well in South Carolina, as evidenced, in part, by the prominence and rampant activity of the Ku Klux Klan in the state during Reconstruction.

Property from the James Milgram, M.D., Collection of Ephemeral Americana and Historical Documents

This lot is located in Cincinnati.

Carte appears to be clipped along at least one edge. Print with some toning, soiling, and uneven cut to lower edge. Mount with toning, soiling, and wear to edges and corners.

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Katie Horstman

VP, Head of Department, American Historical Ephemera and Early Photography

[email protected]513.666.4958

Ms. Horstman has spent over a decade specializing in historic photography and Americana at auction. During her tenure, she has overseen several notable single owner auctions, including property from the inventory of celebrated Americana and antique arms expert Norm Flayderman. During her time with the firm, she has maintained an active membership in the Daguerreian Society. Ms. Horstman holds an MA in Art History from the University of Cincinnati and a BA in Art History from The Ohio State University.

American Historical Ephemera and Photography

[EARLY PHOTOGRAPHY]. Radical Members of the So. Ca. Legislature. [Columbia], SC: J. G. Gibbes, 1868.

American Historical Ephemera and Photography

[EARLY PHOTOGRAPHY]. Radical Members of the So. Ca. Legislature. [Columbia], SC: J. G. Gibbes, 1868.

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