Portraits of enslavement and freedom
What can portraits tell us
about the past?
When and where was this created?
Who do you see? What do you notice about them?
Who might have seen this image?
At first glance…
When you look closer…
Analyze…
Are there any words written? What information does this add?
Write two words or phrases to describe the portrait..
What do you want to know more about?
Citation: Samuel Shrimpton, oil on canvas, unidentified artist of the British school, 1675
What did you find out from this portrait that you might not learn anywhere else?
Source 1
What other types of historical evidence might tell you more about the people in this image?
When and where was this created?
Who do you see? What do you notice about this person?
Who might have seen this image?
At first glance…
When you look closer…
Analyze…
Are there any words written? What information does this add?
Write two words or phrases to describe the portrait..
What do you want to know more about?
Citation: Phillis Wheatley, Poems on Various Subjects, Religious and Moral, London: Printed for A. Bell, 1773
What did you find out from this portrait that you might not learn anywhere else?
Source 2
What other types of historical evidence might tell you more about the person in this image?
When and where was this created?
What is different between this image and the previous one?
Why might these changes have been made?
At first glance…
When you look closer…
Analyze…
Are there any words written? What information does this add?
Write two words or phrases to describe the portrait..
What do you want to know more about?
Citation: Phillis Wheatley, Lithograph by Pendleton, Boston, ca. 1834
What did you find out from this portrait that you might not learn anywhere else?
Source 3
What other types of historical evidence might tell you more about the person in this image?
When and where was this created?
What do you notice?
Why might these changes have been made?
At first glance…
When you look closer…
Analyze…
Are there any words written? What information does this add?
Write two words or phrases to describe the portrait..
What do you want to know more about?
Citation: Elizabeth Freeman (“Mumbet”), miniature portrait, watercolor on ivory by Susan Anne Livingston Ridley Sedgwick, 1811
What did you find out from this portrait that you might not learn anywhere else?
Source 4
What other types of historical evidence might tell you more about the person in this image?