Engraving is one of several accompanying the story "A Winter in the South." It is set in Tennesse, and shows three black musicians, who, at the request of their master, played for him and his family on Christmas Day. According to the story's unnamed author, the master's rhetorical question " . . . because we have the misfortune to be white, shall we never forget our cares and troubles?" was followed by the decisive order, "Bring in the fiddlers!" As the author then wrote, "In came the joyful musicians, grinning from ear to ear, and bowing until they sweep the floor with their greasy hats, anticipating the extra drams and half-dollars for their holiday spendings." (p. 295) In the illustration, the musicians are show with their instruments (fiddles and a tamborine). The portrayal of their facial features adheres to negative racial stereotypes., Illustration in Harper's New Monthly Magazine, vol. 17, no. 99 (August 1858), p. 295., Fels Afro-Americana Image Project, Scenes from Daily Life.
Date
[August 1858]
Location
Library Company of Philadelphia | Books & Other Texts | Rare Per H 9 62992.O v 17 n 99 August 1858 p 295, https://digital.librarycompany.org/islandora/object/Islandora%3A2875
Pro-slavery image set on Fairfield Plantation, a fictional plantation near Macon, Georgia. This scene of casual socializing shows a large "corn-shucking" or husking. A group of men, women, and childen sit around a large pile of corn husks. Laughing and talking with one another, they husk the corn and toss the ears aside. A man identified in the text as Uncle Cato sits on top of pile and leads the others in singing. Two white overseers, who, according to the text, provided the slaves with whiskey, stand near a tree in the background., Illustration in Robert Criswell's "Uncle Tom's Cabin" contrasted with Buckingham Hall, the planter's home; or, A fair view of both sides of the slavery question (New York: Printed and published by D. Fanshaw, No. 108 Nassau-street, 1852), p. 64., Fels Afro-Americana Image Project, Scenes from Slave Life.
Creator
Whitney & Annin, engraver
Date
[1852]
Location
Library Company of Philadelphia | Books & Other Texts | Rare 2 Wright 660 71441.O p 64, https://digital.librarycompany.org/islandora/object/Islandora%3A2652
In an open, outdoor space, two couples dance to music performed by the two men at the left. One musician appears to play a percussion instrument, while the other seems to play a string instrument. The dancing women are bare-breasted, and some of their facial features correspond to racist stereotypes, particularly in the case of the woman closest to the right. On the left, a third woman sits underneath a pole that supports a straw roof. Some pieces of tropical fruit lie on the ground near her feet. Batugue, a type of dance still practiced today, is an Afro-Brazilian circle dance., Plate in Voyage pittoresque dans le deux Ameriques (A Paris : Chez L. Tenr'e, libraire-éditeur, rue de Paon, 1; et chez Henri Dupuy, rue de la Monnaie, 11., M DCCC XXXVI. [1836]), p. 210., Fels Afro-Americana Image Project, Scenes from Slave Life.
Date
[1836]
Location
Library Company of Philadelphia | Books & Other Texts | Rare Am 1836 Orbi 6335.F p 210, https://digital.librarycompany.org/islandora/object/Islandora%3A2749
