CINCINNATI – On October 26, Freeman’s | Hindman will bring to auction what is believed to be the first American photograph of a romantically posed interracial couple. The anonymous ninth plate daguerreotype, taken around 1850-1855, depicts a white woman and an African American or mixed-race man in an amorous pose. The image will be offered as a highlight of Freeman’s | Hindman’s auction of American Historical Ephemera and Early Photography in the company’s Cincinnati saleroom.
The sitters and the photographer remain a mystery. Extensive research by Freeman’s | Hindman has uncovered no historic record of the photograph. While the image was likely taken in a Northern state, hundreds, if not thousands, of daguerreotypists could have made the exposure.
In a world where racial stereotypes denied the humanity of African Americans and the notion that they were capable of the same emotions as white Americans, this image offers a striking rebuttal. Posed or not, the message of this extraordinary image is clear: in matters of the heart, white and black could be equal partners.
In the 1850s, 28 states and several Native American tribes had laws prohibiting not only interracial marriage, but interracial sex. Even in Northern states where abolitionism was strongest and interracial marriage was legal (New York, Pennsylvania, Massachusetts and most of New England), interracial relationships were still viewed as taboo.
In the South, where slavery was the driving force of not only the economy but society itself, legal concerns would have been the least of the dangers facing the photographer and the sitters. Though sexual violence perpetrated by enslavers was widely accepted, “amalgamation” — the fear of “race mixing” — was used to justify the separation of whites and blacks and uphold enslavement as a necessary institution. It goes without saying that in such an environment both the sitters and photographer may have risked physical harm for this defiance of societal norms.
This image was likely meant to be a political statement. Photography was one of the abolitionists’ most powerful tools in not only fighting the evil of slavery, but in proving the equality of the races. At a time when African Americans were often grotesquely exaggerated in prints and other media, Frederick Douglass, among others, recognized photography as a means of truth-telling, and a medium that could humanize African Americans. Douglass and his colleagues understood, however, that for a photograph to have real, lasting power, it needed to be widely circulated. As a unique image, the daguerreotype was unsuited to widespread dissemination and could only be exposed to a wider audience through an engraving. If this image was taken for abolitionist propaganda it seems to have never been engraved; no trace of it exists in the historical record.
About Freeman’s | Hindman
Freeman’s | Hindman merged in 2023 to create a global team of experienced specialists who embrace tradition and innovation, creating a truly client-centric auction house. As America’s oldest auction house, Freeman’s has been an active part of the auction world and art market for nearly 220 years. Hindman, established in 1982, brings an expansive cross-country network, wealth of expertise, and strong relationships with fiduciaries nationwide to build a market-leading auctions and appraisals firm in Freeman’s | Hindman.
