Changing portrayals of civil rights issues: Photographs

Question 1

what was the form of media with the most impact on the greater public

Answer 1

visual portrayals

Question 2

Until the early 20th century, what were the main forms of visual imagery

Answer 2

lithographs, photographs and paintings

Question 3

what did the images in the second half of the 19th century portary in regards to black americans

Answer 3

varied and changing white attitudes towards black people

Question 4

what were the main three intentions behind images in the second half of the 19th century

Answer 4

• demeaning, before and after emancipation
• designed to arouse sympathy for the abolitionist cause
• realistic portrayals of post-Civil war hardship and challenges

Question 5

what does Frank Goodyear argue about visual portrayals

Answer 5

that mass-produced and widely distributed photographs played an influential role in broadening the national debate about slavery

Question 6

what example does Goodyear use to show the influential role of visual imagery

Answer 6

a photograph of a runaway slave, Gordon

Question 7

what is the backstory of Gordon’s photograph

Answer 7

• Gordon fled enslavement in 1863, and reached safety in a Union army camp at Baton Rouge
• Two photographers asked Gordon to pose for the pictures of the terrible welts on his back (inflicted by the plantation overseer)

Question 8

what was the main aim of taking the photo of the welts on Gordon’s back

Answer 8

to reveal the harsh treatment he had suffered

Question 9

Significance of Gordon’s photograph

Answer 9

• Photographic team mass-produced and sold copies of Gordon’s portrait
• Within months, commercial photographers were issuing the image on their own studio mounts
• Abolitionists frequently referred to the photograph in their speeches and works
• Harper’s weekly also issued it in their article

Question 10

example of an Abolitionist who referred to the photograph in speeches and their works

Answer 10

William Lloyd Garrison

Question 11

what was the effect of Harper’s weekly issuing it in their article

Answer 11

• states that Gordon transformed into a symbol of courage and patriotism of African Americans
• he also inspired many free blacks in the North to enlist

Question 12

what does the illustration Franchise, and not this man? 1865 portray about black Americans

Answer 12

Columbia, the female personification of America, presents a brave wounded black union solider and presents the unfairness of the treatment he suffers when he fought the same cause as the white men

Question 13

what is significant about the year 1865

Answer 13

• pre-15th amendment
• pre-ex slaves getting a vote

Question 14

what does the illustration His choice, 1887 portray about black Americans

Answer 14

• negative portrayal
• the face of the black man in the illustration is a caricature who is depicted negatively, with broken English and looking ‘scruffy’
• this illustration suggests that black Americans are illiterate and ‘dirty’