Ongoing: "We Were Beautiful Then, Too": Late 19th Century African American Cabinet Cards

Name: Ongoing: "We Were Beautiful Then, Too": Late 19th Century African American Cabinet Cards — BLHP
Start: 2022-08-31T00:00:00-0400
End: 2022-08-31T23:55:00-0400
Location: St. Nicholas Park

Wednesday, August 31, 2022
12:00 AM 11:55 PM

St. Nicholas Park St. Nicholas Ave., St. Nicholas Terrace, between W. 128 St. and W. 141 St. Harlem, NY USA (map)

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In the 19th century, African Americans harnessed the power of photography to claim a self-possessed identity in line with middle class values and in contrast to racist notions of black inferiority. Cabinet cards played a significant role in this process of African American self-fashioning and self-representation. Made of paper and sold by the dozen, cabinet cards were affordable for nearly all Americans.

The format was introduced in the 1870s and remained popular into the 1900s. This same period saw a surge of Post-Reconstruction lynchings and Jim Crow oppression. Against this brutal backdrop, cabinet cards offered greater access to visual representation at a moment when African Americans’ access to political representation was violently repressed.

Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture
On view at St. Nicholas Park in Harlem
The banner exhibition is produced in partnership the NYC Parks and Photoville.

Ongoing: "We Were Beautiful Then, Too": Late 19th Century African American Cabinet Cards

Now thru Aug. 31: NMAAHC Summer Reading Challenge 2022: Reconstruction(s) and Retellings

Venture Smith Day