The Black Image in Civil War America

Paper Summary:

This paper reviews the black form as depicted in Civil War America. The paper argues that the period systematically subordinated the black soldier to his white counter-parts and that this subordination sometimes took on the form of effacement. The paper also explores the sociological, cultural and anthropological factors at play in the construction of nineteenth century compositions of this sort.

From the Paper:

"The manner in which a society depicts the physical form of people from different ethnic or racial backgrounds says a great deal about that society. To wit, it has sometimes been remarked that art is a window into the human soul. If this is indeed the case, then photos from a particular period in history capture that period - its assumptions, ideals, self-perceptions, even hopes - in a way that is very difficult to surpass. This paper looks at a Civil war picture taken from 1864 which captures the African-American form in a manner that reveals - in striking detail - the reification and assumptions of American society during the middle of the nineteenth century."

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