Portraits of Rebecca Huger, white girl slave of New Orleans 1860‑ies
In 1863, the Union Army joined forces with several organizations help the slaves and together they organized the shooting of child slaves to sell the resulting maps de visit, and thereby to raise funds for schools for freed from the slavery of children in Louisiana. Most of the photos, the surviving, captured babe Rebecca Huger from New Orleans.
For shooting the children were taken of "white" features, as well as to please the white middle class in the Northern States, they were taking pictures like a typical family portraits. While some of the former slaves were 6 or 7 years old, young Rebecca Huger was eleven.
Rebecca Huger was the daughter of John M. Huger from New Orleans, who before the civil war was a merchant. She was one of 17 domestic slaves belonging to Mr. Huger. Harper's Weekly wrote about Rebecca:
Editors of Harper's Weekly explained that "the descendants of the white fathers of two or three generations of the same white, the same intelligent and obedient, as most of our children."
On the reverse side of some of these photos it is written:
We are talking about the National Association for the freed slaves that sell these photos for 25 cents on teachers ' salaries and purchasing school supplies. Some suggest that the organizers of the campaign to raise funds thought that northerners are more likely to give money in the form of a young "white" slaves.
Others think that the age and appearance of Rebecca reminded the people of the North about the girls who were sold to the slave market in New Orleans and made concubines. The photos seemed to say that slavery could threaten even the white population.
Keywords: USA | North America | Girl | World | Children | Slavery | New Orleans