Photoville

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.

Cabinet cards were tucked into family albums and exchanged with acquaintances, thereby solidifying kinship bonds and representing social networks. Although we may not know the names of the sitters, at least one message persists through time: despite the turmoil of the era, Black was beautiful then, too.

Organizations

  • The Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture

    The Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture

    The Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture in Harlem, one of The New York Public Library’s renowned research libraries, is a world-leading cultural institution devoted to the research, preservation, and exhibition of materials focused on African American, African Diaspora, and African experiences.

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

 archive : 2022

Featuring: Various Artists

Curated by: Dalila Scruggs

Presented by: The Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture
  • The Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture

Locations

View Location Details St. Nicholas Park – 132nd Street and 139th Street

St. Nicholas Park – 132nd Street and 139th Street and St. Nicholas Ave,
New York,
NY 10030

Number 80 on the official photoville map Click to download this year's map

Location open 24 hours

This website was made possible thanks to the generous support and partnership of Photowings