Studio albumen carte de visite portrait of a Black nanny holding a white child. New Orleans, Louisiana: W.D. McPherson, n.d. Photographer's No. 132 Canal St. imprint to mount verso.

An intimate carte de visite photograph taken of a daguerreotype or ambrotype depicting an African American nanny holding a white child. With a hint of a smile, she wears a patterned headwrap and dark dress with a delicate polka dot pattern while holding her charge on her lap.

This powerful image speaks for itself, made during a time when African American women were often in servitude to white families, who relied on them for domestic tasks such as child care. The southern photographer's studio location (New Orleans), suggests the woman was likely enslaved.


[African Americana, African American History, Black History, Women's History, Quakers, Quaker History, Early Photography, Historic Photography, Albumen Photography, CDV, CDVs, Cartes de Visite, Carte de Visite, Carte-de-Visite, Cabinet Card, Daguerreotype, Ambrotype, Tintype, Cased Images]