Print depicting the fictitious blessing of an enslaved African American baby by the radical abolitionist on his walk to the gallows in December 1859. Shows Brown in front of his Charles Town, Virginia cell, flanked by guards carrying rifles and swords. An African American woman kneels before him and holds her baby up while Brown lays his hand on the baby’s head. Spectators surround them, including white women and veterans, one with his arm in a sling. In the right, an African American woman nanny wraps her arms around her two well-dressed white boy charges., Title from original painting "John Brown's Blessing" completed in 1867 by Southern historical and genre painter Thomas Satterwhite Noble in the collections of the New York Historical Society., Purchase 1968., 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
[ca. 1867]
Location
Library Company of Philadelphia | Print Department **Portrait Prints-B [7777.F]
