Stolen looks,people unbound: picturing contraband people during the civil war

This article evaluates the images of contraband slaves published in Harper’s Weekly and Frank Leslie’s Illustrated Newspaper during the Civil War. As these publications competed for business, they established and reiterated numerous claims regarding the authenticity of their images and news reports. Illustrators initially depicted African Americans using repurposed racial stereotypes that had existed for generations. Blackface minstrelsy, scientific racism, and racialized printed materials depicting African Americans are used as context to understand the images in the two illustrated newspapers. The visual representation of African Americans dramatically changed as emancipation unfolded and black Union military service expanded.