Photographic reproduction of a print drawn by Helen M. Colburn, daughter of New Jersey artist Rembrandt Lockwood, depicting a group of African American men and boy peddlers at the corner of a city street. The figures are drawn with racist and caricatured features and mannerisms. In the center, a milk peddler stands and hawks with a trumpet in his left hand and a canteen of milk, ladle, and pitcher in his right hand. The man is attired in a wide-brimmed hat, shirtsleeves, pants, and a long apron. To the left, another African American man peddler pushes a large cart of junk wares and looks down at a young African American child running from a dog. The man wears a rumpled top hat, torn shirtsleeves, a vest, and patched pants. The child wears a smock dress and their hat has fallen by the feet of the milk peddler. In the right, a newspaper boy hawks the papers under his right arm. He is attired in a soft-brimmed hat, jacket, and pants. In the far right, a man attired in a hat, a shirt with turned-up collar, a long jacket, and striped pants, holds a bell and has his left leg stepped up on a box. Cityscape, a white woman street vendor at a table, and a horse-drawn cart are visible in the background. Robinson, married to Washington U.S. Treasury clerk Rollinson Colburn, lived in the Capitol between circa 1870 and her death in 1912. In 1887 eight of her works, some purported to be based on her own eye-witness accounts during the 1870s, showing African American life in the city were published as a collectible series of photographs. Occassionally, Colburn described and signed her descriptions of the scenes on the versos of the photographs., Title printed on mount., Date from copy right statement printed on mount: Copyright 1887., Written in lower right of original print: Mrs. R. Colburn 1870., RVCDC, Description revised 2022., Access points revised 2022., Purchased with the 2019 Junto Fund.
Date
1887
Location
Library Company of Philadelphia | Print Department photos - 5 x 7 - unidentified - Events [P.2020.16.5]
