Choice example of what was at the time a commercially produced photograph of Fannie Virginia Casseopia Lawrence, a “redeemed slave child.” Fannie was one of the most photographed children of the Civil War era, used as propaganda by abolitionists to raise funds. At the time, children of mixed racial heritage in the South were considered black and thus potential slaves regardless of the lightness of their skin color. These photographs were produced to raise money to buy the freedom of other children, playing on the sympathies of Northern whites to “save” children who resembled their own. Research suggests Fannie was probably obtained in an area of Virginia occupied by Union military forces. It is believed she was a "freed" slave child after her purported father was killed by a neighbor who shot him. Condition is very fine.



[Civil War, Union, Confederate, Antique Photography, Daguerreotype, Ambrotype, Tintype, CDV, Abolition, Slavery]