![\"Hand](\"https:\/\/sites.temple.edu\/librarynews\/files\/2013\/02\/484_Manigault_Dolly2.jpg\")
<\/a>Photographer unknown, circa 1863, carte-de-visite and manuscript page (University of North Carolina Library, Chapel Hill, Manigault Papers, no. 484, vol. 4)<\/p><\/div>\n
As part of its commemoration of the 150th<\/sup> anniversary of the Emancipation Proclamation, the Charles L. Blockson Afro-American Collection presented an Author\u2019s Talk and Book Signing with renowned photographic historian Dr. Deborah Willis and historian of slavery Dr. Barbara Krauthamer on February 8, 2013 in Mitten Hall, Great Court.\u00a0 Their book features 150 rare photographs (some of which are housed in the Blockson Collection) pertaining to the experiences of enslaved and freed black men, women and children from the antebellum, Civil War and post-Civil War eras.\u00a0 Speaking to the group, Willis and Krauthamer were able to engage a packed audience of over 200 in a discourse that was a kinetic one, moving through the history, hopes and possibilities of a people seeking to achieve their fullest humanity during one of the most transformative years in our nation\u2019s history.<\/p>\n Krauthamer and Willis became interested in this book project when they discovered a photograph of a woman named \u201cDolly.\u201d Her picture was pasted onto a $50 Reward notice created after she ran away from an Augusta, Georgia plantation in 1863. \u00a0\u201cWe both thought that was a story that needed to be explored,\u201d Willis said. \u201cThese images allow us to connect to people whose lives would be lost [to us otherwise]\u201d said Krauthamer.\u00a0 Their book asks: \u201cWhat did [Dolly] envision when she planned her escape? What did she see around her when she stepped outside her master\u2019s yard and closed the gate behind her? When we look at her picture we see her life in slavery, but we also recognize that the picture is a testament to her liberation.\u201d<\/p>\n The brilliance of their work simply asks the viewer to look at these African Americans as agents in their emancipation.\u00a0 In the end, Willis hopes their readers will find \u201ca much more nuanced story about slavery. Not just the top down, but the fact that Black people were actively involved in obtaining their freedom,\u201d she said. \u201cThat\u2019s what I want people to walk away with, because I didn\u2019t know it when I was in high school.\u201d\u00a0 \u201cWhat we wanted to show through the book was African American\u2019s dignity and sense of their own strengths and potential to shape the future and that they were intellectually and philosophically engaged in the major political and social issues of the day.\u201d \u00a0\u201cWhen we look at these photographs, we see full human-beings,\u201d Willis said. \u00a0\u201cThey were creating their own biographies through these images.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cEnvisioning Emancipation: Black Americans and the End of Slavery\u201d is published by Temple University Press; I encourage you to read it.<\/p>\n www.temple.edu\/tempress<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" As part of its commemoration of the 150th anniversary of the Emancipation Proclamation, the Charles L. Blockson Afro-American Collection presented an Author\u2019s Talk and Book Signing with renowned photographic historian Dr. Deborah Willis and historian of slavery Dr. Barbara … Continue reading