CDV on cardstock mount with photographer's imprint on verso. An elderly African American man, known to be the formerly enslaved James Powell, also known as "Pompey Jim" and "Banty Jim." He wears an ill-fitting coat and pants with visible tears.

Another known image of Powell curated at the Library of Congress (not featured here) shows him sporting a Union artillery shell jacket, with penciled inscription identifying him as a "boot black." He is also identified by Dickinson College Archives and Special Collections as having worked as a janitor at the college.