1800s-1900s photographs, lithographs

Examples of minstrel depictions prior to Civil War

Harper Weekly (most popular contemporary periodical)

North vs Southern criticisms of minstrel shows

Southern whites - resentment to their ‘sympathetic’ attitudes towards runaway slaves

Northern whites (abolitionists) - disliked the depiction of happy slaves

Abolitionist portrayals

Designed to arouse sympathy for the cause, showing desperation and honourability to catalyse public awareness for the cause

Bob Adelman and Bob Hudson

CRM photographers in the 1960s

Visualised the gross inequality within America

Photographed the women’s movement and self-named gay pride movement in addition

600,000

Amount of photos the Library of Congress acquired the rights to after Adelman’s death in 2016

Examples of the two Bob’s photographing racism they faced

Revealed what its like to be on the receiving end of of police water hoses and dogs, helping heighten the national mood and quickening the passage of CRA 1964

Uses of Aldeman’s photos

Fundraising

Court cases (Kerner Commission investigating the 1967 race riots published a report with them, now frequently used in school books)

MLK

Understood the importance of using photography to illustrate his points on TV - media

Union soldiers

photography capturing black people as loyal and patriotic to the nation

July 1863 Harper’s Weekly

photo of the scarred back of a Louisiana slave from beatings, resembling a tree

Who did illustrations for 1852 Uncle Tom’s Cabin

Hammatt Billings

UTC illustrations at the time of release

Emphasised Tom’s Christianity and relationship with Eva

UTC illustrations after the Civil War and emancipation

Visual changes - Tom presented as an older, less powerful man and as dependent on young Eva

Reflects growing fears and hostility towards freed black men

Negative impacts of photography

1920s-30s - in KKK dominated areas, newspaper photographs served to encourage repression by portraying graphic images of ‘lynching parties’