Image: A group of slaves run away from the master on the cotton plantation in the direction of Fort Monroe. The white master prepares to crack his whip while an African American, who faces him, thumbs his nose in defiance. Refers to the contraband policy that banned soldiers from returning runaway slaves to their owners once they crossed Union lines., Verse 420: Come back here, you black rascal., Caption: Can't come back no how, massa; Dis chile's CONTRABAN', Provenance: McAllister, John A. (John Allister), 1822-1896, collector
Image: A group of slaves run away from the white master on the plantation in the direction of Fort Monroe. The white master prepares to crack his whip while an African American, who faces him, thumbs his nose in defiance. Refers to the Benjamin Butler's contraband policy that banned soldiers from returning runaway slaves to their owners once they crossed Union lines., Verse 421: Come back you black rascal., Caption: Can't koershun de's colours; we's de "Butler Contrabans", Provenance: McAllister, John A. (John Allister), 1822-1896, collector
Image: An African American woman, with a bundle slung over her shoulder, runs behind a little boy. Secession is equated to runaway slaves., Verse 1840: Secession., Provenance: McAllister, John A. (John Allister), 1822-1896, collector
Image: A runaway grasps General Benjamin Butler for protection as his former owner approaches. Butler's sword is drawn and pointing at the slave owner, who is from one of the first families of Virginia. The slave owner is portrayed as a scarecrow holding a dog leash in one hand and a cat-o'-nine-tails in the other. Scene takes place in front of Fort Monroe. Refers to the contraband policy that banned soldiers from returning runaway slaves to their owners once they crossed Union lines., Verse 1568: One of the F.F.V.'s [First Families of Virginia] after his Contraband., General Butler "can't see it.", Provenance: McAllister, John A. (John Allister), 1822-1896, collector
Image: A slave family, consisting of father, mother and two children, run toward Fort Monroe, away from the white master who is chasing them with a whip and chains. Refers to the contraband policy that banned soldiers from returning runaway slaves to their owners once they crossed Union lines., Verse 422: Come back you black rascal, Oh no, I can't come back, I'se contraband., Provenance: McAllister, John A. (John Allister), 1822-1896, collector
Propaganda envelopes published by various publishers predominately utilizing racist caricatures and satires of African Americans in relation to Jefferson Davis, slavery, and secession to promote Union support of the Civil War. Satires utilize themes of inversion of social roles, retribution, and Northern superiority. Includes envelopes with same graphic and variant text or title; sexually explicit illustrations; images originally published in different media such as cartoons; and one Southern imprint promoting a united Confederacy as the safeguard of slavery. Some caricatures portray African Americans with exaggerated features and speaking in the vernacular., Includes images of enslaved people seeking freedom, as living "contraband of war," celebrating, or depicted as the shyster character Jim Crow; depictions of the "peculiar institution" of slavery showing a white enslaver in bed with an enslaved African American woman, her breast visible, and who is breastfeeding a white baby; secession equated to African American freedom seekers, economic destruction of the South, and the moral corruption of people emancipated from enslavement; Jefferson Davis caricatured as a traitor in execution and imprisonment scenes overseen by enslaved people; and views of enslaved people working on plantations with text declaring the end of "King Cotton." During the Civil War, the U.S. government declared African American freedom seekers as “contraband of war.”, Title supplied by cataloger., Date inferred from content., Some copyrighted by Magee and Harbach & Brother., Various publishers including: Philadelphia publishers John Magee, S.C. Upham, Harbarch & Bro., and King & Baird; New York publisher Charles Magnus; and Charleston, S.C. publisher G.W. Falen. Other publishers located in New York, Buffalo, Hartford, Cincinnati, and Lancaster, Pa., See Steven Berry's "When mail was armor: envelopes of the Great Rebellion," Southern culture (Fall 1998)., Probably originally part of a McAllister scrapbook of Civil War envelopes., RVCDC, Description revised 2021., Access points revised 2021., Part of digital collections catalog through a grant from the Institute of Museum and Library Services as administered by the Pennsylvania Department of Education through the Office of Commonwealth Libraries, and the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, Tom Corbett, Governor, 2013-2014.
Date
1861-1865
Location
Library Company of Philadelphia | Print Department Civil War envelopes - African Americana [various]
