Learning is Wealth. Wilson, Charley, Rebecca, and Rosa. Slaves from New Orleans

Source: Paxson, Chas. , -1880, photographer. Learning is wealth. Wilson, Charley, Rebecca, and Rosa. Slaves from New Orleans / Chas. Paxson, photographer, New York. Louisiana New Orleans, ca. 1864. Photograph. https://www.loc.gov/item/2010647859/.

Date: ca. 1864

Text/Transcription:

This photograph, taken by a New York photographer following the Union Army’s recapture of New Orleans, depicts formerly enslaved mixed-race children and a Black man reading to them. Appealing to the viewer’s curiosity of the children’s white-appearing image and status, abolitionists sold copies of the shocking image as carte-de-visites to Northern audiences. They used the proceeds from the sales to fund education for emancipated people.