Robert Small, pilot of the steamer Planter, Charleston, S.C.
Title
Robert Small, pilot of the steamer Planter, Charleston, S.C
Description
Bust-length portrait of the formerly enslaved and later South Carolina congressman who commandeered and harbored fifteen enslaved people on the Confederate steamer, "Planter," consequently escaping to freedom across the Charleston Bay in May 1862. Smalls, a "Planter" crew member who impersonated the Confederate Captain, surrendered the vessel to a flotilla of the Union Blockade after navigating passed several Confederate fortifications. The nationally publicized escape sparked a military campaign to recruit African American volunteers in South Carolina. Small, attired in a white shirt and a dark-colored jacket, looks at the viewer., Title from item., Date from copyright statement: Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1862, in the Clerk's Office of the District Court of the United States for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania by McAllister & Brother, 728 Chestnut Street, Philadelphia., See account of escape with illustrations in Harper's Weekly, June 14, 1862, p. 372. (LCP **Per H, 1863)., Originally part of a McAllister scrapbook of portraits. McAllister Collection, gift, 1886., 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
1862
Location
Library Company of Philadelphia | Print Department cdv portraits -sitter-Small [(3)5750.F.44b]
Heroes of the colored race
Title
Heroes of the colored race
Description
Print commemorating men prominent in and representative of the advancement of African American civil rights. Depicts a central vignette of bust-length portraits of ex-Senator Blanche Kelso Bruce of Mississippi, abolitionist Frederick Douglass, and ex-Senator Hiram Revels of Mississippi surrounded by four scenes of pre- and post-Civil War African American life. Includes two titled scenes, "Receiving the News of the Emancipation" depicting an older African American man, two women, and children celebrating, and "Studying the Lesson" depicting an African American man teacher instructing a classroom of children. Adorning the borders of the central vignette are a portrait of John Brown flanked by a horn of plenty and school books, and an eagle holding American flags embellished with portraits of Abraham Lincoln, James Garfield, and Ulysses S. Grant. Other scenes depict enslaved African American men and women picking cotton and African American Civil War soldiers fighting a battle. Includes corner portraits of African American legislators John R. Lynch of Mississippi, Joseph H. Rainey of South Carolina, Robert Smalls of South Carolina, and Charles E. Nash of Louisiana., Lib. Company. Annual report, 1975, p. 60-61., Gift of Gordon Colket, 1975., Reaccessioned as P.9615., 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
1881
Location
Library Company of Philadelphia | Print Department **GC - African American Heroes [8140.F]