Dog picture taken by George Eastman House.
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Black Man With White Child and Dog
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{ 22 comments… read them below or add one }
I wonder what a black man is doing with a white child at that time. Interesting!
I love old photos. They have so much history and mistery
It does seem odd doesn’t it. The child looks comfortable with the man as well I cant imagine what brought them together. It’s a though provoking photograph, allows you to use your imagination. This is the type of photo I love,
I’d love to know the story behind the photo
I think I’ve seen photos like this. I think it’s like a picture that people would take of their children with the slaves that took care of them. I could be wrong but I always thought that may be it.
Que bonita
at Intyla: I believe you are right. My first assumption was that the man was the little girl’s caretaker.
To me, it almost looks manipulated – the light on the white child seem different than on the man and the dog..
The American civil war ended in 1865 so this can’t be a slave- adds a different dimension. What were the shutter speds like at this time- must have been hard to get the dog to sit still
Looking at the photo again, there is something about it that seems a little odd (apart from the obvious). The man’s jacket is only done up by the top button – why? The child’s complexion is the same colour as her / his outfit. The ground appears to be littered with leaves and debris of some sort – if this were a portrait would it not have been taken indoors? The dog does appear to have some blurring around its head, almost as if it has moved as the picture is being taken, but its body is perfectly still. Neither the man or the child have a "posed" expression on their faces, not a smile nor a "serious" look usual to this type of photograph. Even if the photograph has been taken after the end of the Civil war such a pale white child leaning so comfortably against a black man must surely have been out of the ordinary ……….
he’s prop a servant of some rich northern family
I dearly love old photographic processes!
This Barke’s gelatin silver print cabinet card was taken, or at least processed, in Council Bluffs and Missouri Valley, Iowa around 1890, well after Lincoln’s proclamation had been signed (1863) and had taken effect (1865).
Before, during and after slaves were freed it was not that uncommon to see household servants treating white children as if they were their very own. Black servants did in fact raise several generations of white children. Children came to regard their caretakers kindly (in many cases) and might even regard their caretakers with the same affection held for their very own parents.
Also, quite a few people had black servants and they certainly were not rich. If the family were rich the background and floor would have been clean and formal.
http://www.historybroker.com/slavery/slave5.jpg
lemonandlime.files.wordpress.com/2007/12/slave-with-famil…
http://www.historybroker.com/slavery/slave6a.jpg
farm4.static.flickr.com/3251/2723653939_0ab99f2d99_o.jpg
Photographs of this era are generally looked upon as a formal/semi-formal event, which generally meant not smiling.
It is more likely they are not smiling, however, because the exposure time involved in the photographic process was rather lengthy (between 5 and 15 minutes) and the subject wouldn’t be able to hold a smile for such a long time without the photo blurring, which explains the dog’s slightly blurred appearance. Most of us know how hard it is to get pets to keep still for modern photographs with flash let alone any that had a lengthy exposure time.
The top button on the man’s jacket remains buttoned to retain some element of formality, the rest of the buttons may be undone when a person is seated. If you watch people today who wear a suit jacket notice what they do just before they sit down…they unbutton the jacket. It could also depend on the formality of the picture, the formality of the subject or the person who paid to have the photograph taken…everyone is a little different:
http://www.photographymuseum.com/tuskeglg.jpg
highway55.library.yale.edu/SIMPSONIMG/size3/D0019/1009628…
highway55.library.yale.edu/SIMPSONIMG/size3/D0032/1022015…
Un excelente B/N!!!
B/N,La Critica Constructiva
This image has been used in the indicommons.org post: Black History across the Commons – Part 1
Hi, I’m an admin for a group called Vintage Animals / Imagens Antigas de Animais, and we’d love to have this added to the group!
Que bonita
Hi, I’m an admin for a group called streetdog, and we’d love to have this added to the group!
This is a heart warming photo and I am so happy to have found it to look at. Lovely!
Interesting for so many reasons. I would like to know the story behind this photograph.
@SpringerCrazy: The man’s jacket is only done up by the top button – why?
That was just a style of wearing jackets in vogue at the time. Look at other photos from the same year / decade and you’ll see a lot of men wearing their jackets so buttoned when seated. It was commonplace.
The child’s complexion is the same colour as her / his outfit.
No. This is a monochrome photograph and colors reflecting comparable amounts of light are rendered as tones close in luminance value.
The ground appears to be littered with leaves and debris of some sort – if this were a portrait would it not have been taken indoors?
Yes. Photography studios at the time deliberately placed leaves and debris on the floor to create the illusion of an outdoor setting.
The dog does appear to have some blurring around its head, almost as if it has moved as the picture is being taken, but its body is perfectly still.
No blurring is evident around or of the dog’s head. Examine the largest size and the dog’s head can be seen to have been rendered as sharply as the man and the child.
Neither the man or the child have a "posed" expression on their faces, not a smile nor a "serious" look usual to this type of photograph.
That’s because film speeds at the time were sufficient to allow shutter speeds of around one second, so portrait sitters did not have to hold their expression for long.
There is a general misconception that all photographs made in the 19th century were subject to achingly slow shutter speeds measured in minutes. In the early days of photography (1830′s — 1850′s) Dageurreotypes required very long shutter speeds, but with the introduction of the Fox Talbotype (Ambrotype) negative-positive process, shutter speeds were relatively quick.
Note that altho (although) the Dageurreotype was still in use, this photograph is not a Dageurreotype. It’s an Ambrotype made on a glass plate negative.
Even if the photograph has been taken after the end of the Civil war such a pale white child leaning so comfortably against a black man must surely have been out of the ordinary
This was kind of relationship was common. Even after blacks were manumitted many of them remained servants of white peeple (people), and it was normal for white children to form close frendships (friendships) with their black caretakers.
@LMangue: If the family were rich the background and floor would have been clean and formal.
Nope. Photography studios at the time deliberately placed leaves and debris on the floor to create the illusion of an outdoor setting.
Photographs of this era are generally looked upon as a formal/semi-formal event, which generally meant not smiling.
It is more likely they are not smiling, however, because the exposure time involved in the photographic process was rather lengthy (between 5 and 15 minutes) and the subject wouldn’t be able to hold a smile for such a long time without the photo blurring, which explains the dog’s slightly blurred appearance.
No, nonsense, read my explanation above. The main reason they’re not smiling was portraiture style and the austere, stern social mores of the time. Peeple (people) just didn’t smile in a portrait because photographic portraiture at this time still sought to emulate painted portraits in which sitters did not smile. It was a formality thing, simple as that.
Also, people didn’t smile because it would take a while for pictures to be taken (I don’t know how to eplain it…) but its hard to keep a smile for a long period of time…
Sometimes racism wore a velvet glove.
has any one here read UNCLE TOM’S CABIN? during this time white children receive much of their care during their formative year from African American. go on line and search UNCLE TOM’S CABIN some of these children that had heart felt love for the African American that raised them play a large parting in the freeing of the African Slave
face book Evelyn’s Ordinary People Greeting Card Portraits
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I would love a use this for a multicultural/racial greeting card
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