2.21 Legacies of Resistance in African American Art and Photography

Photography became widespread in the mid-1800s, at the same time as the fight over slavery. Popular images of Black people at the time were often cruel cartoons and caricatures that mocked them. African American leaders used photographs to answer those images, showing themselves as citizens who deserved dignity, respect and equal rights.

Photos of formerly enslaved people were especially powerful. A portrait of Douglass or Tubman, dressed and posed with care, showed what Black people could achieve in freedom, the opposite of what defenders of slavery claimed.

Frederick Douglass was the most photographed man in America in the 1800s, sitting for well over a hundred portraits. He chose serious, dignified poses and wrote and lectured about the power of pictures to shape how people saw Black Americans.

Sojourner Truth sold small photo cards called cartes de visite to raise money for herself and for the abolitionist cause. Their caption said she sold the 'shadow' (the picture) to support the 'substance' (herself). She also went on speaking tours and recruited Black soldiers for the Union Army. Her photos put Black women's leadership at the center of the fight for freedom.

Cartes de visite were small, cheap photo cards that people collected and traded in albums, so these portraits spread widely. Buying a card of Douglass or Truth was a way for supporters to show where they stood on slavery.

The required sources include three photographs of Harriet Tubman: a carte-de-visite portrait from 1868–1869, when she was in her forties; a print from 1871–1876; and a portrait from around 1908, when she was in her eighties. Together they show her as a dignified, respected figure across decades of freedom. The earliest one, acquired by the Smithsonian and the Library of Congress in 2017, is one of the earliest known photographs of her.

Many contemporary African American artists build on Black artistic traditions to honor historical leaders, blending history, religion and gender. Bisa Butler makes portraits out of quilted fabric, drawing on the African American quilting tradition (2.9). Her 2021 quilt portrait of Tubman, I Go to Prepare a Place for You, connects Tubman's faith to her leadership and links African Americans to Africa. Works like this keep the memory of these leaders' courage and resistance alive.