HISTORIC NORTHAMPTON
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Chaotic Freedom and the Scars of Slavery:
From Baton Rouge to Northampton
An Exhibition at Historic Northampton
October 12 - December 9, 2018
Based on Bruce Laurie's essay "Chaotic Freedom" in Civil War Louisiana: The Origins of an Iconic Image
Featuring reproduction photographs of Civil War carte-de-visite photographs by Stan Sherer

"​We learn here, also, that the stories of cruelty to the slaves are not destitute of truth. I saw last week one of the most horrid and singular objects I ever beheld. It was the bare back of a negro who had been beaten by an overseer. "
- Henry S. Gere, Letters from the 52d, April 6, 1863, published in the Hampshire Gazette, May 5, 1863

In early April 1863, Northampton newspaper publisher Henry S. Gere wrote a letter from Baton Rouge for publication in the Hampshire Gazette.  Gere described for a white northern audience the scarred back of an enslaved man named Peter. 

Gere and Marshall S. Stearns of Northfield were serving in the Union army and met Peter who had fled slavery and arrived at the encampment where they were stationed. Shocked by what they saw, Gere and Stearns collaborated to produce a photograph utilizing a new photographic medium called the carte-de-visite. Gere sent the photograph to bookseller Sidney E. Bridgman of Northampton for public viewing.  Months later, a version of the image reached a national audience on the pages of Harper's Weekly magazine. Today, the photograph is considered the most iconic image of an enslaved American.

Peter was one of thousands of self-liberated men, women and children who entered the Baton Rouge camp.  Stearns and Gere witnessed their plight and the disorder that followed emancipation.  Gere characterized the aftermath of slavery as "chaotic freedom."
Picture
Henry Gere and Marshall Stearns  saw first-hand
​the realities of slavery and its aftermath at this
"contraband" camp Baton Rouge, Louisiana.


Carte-de-visite photographs - size 2 1/2" by 4" - brought back from Baton Rouge by Henry S. Gere are shown in this exhibit in large-scale reproductions by photographer Stan Sherer.

Henry Gere brought home from Baton Rouge eighteen card photographs probably from the photography studio of William D. McPherson and J. Oliver of Baton Rouge.  Historian Bruce Laurie chronicled this story based upon these photographs  (now in the collection of Historic Northampton) and letters sent home by both men. His research is paired with photographer Stan Sherer's photographic reproductions of the 1863 carte-de-visite images.

The exhibition is based upon historian Bruce Laurie's 2016 essay "Chaotic Freedom" in Civil War Louisiana: The Origins of an Iconic Image" published by The Massachusetts Review.  Limited copies of the essay are available for sale in the museum store.  Also available on Amazon Kindle.
​In conjunction with the 2018 ALL HAMPTONS READ,  a community reading event of the book, Never Caught: The Washington's Relentless Pursuit of their Runaway Slave, Ona Judge by Erica Armstrong Dunbar.

Picture
​BRUCE LAURIE, Professor Emeritus of History at the University of Massachusetts Amherst, holds a PhD from the University of Pittsburgh. He is the author of Rebels in Paradise: Sketches of Northampton Abolitionists (2015); The Rise of Conservatism in America: A Brief History with Documents with Ronald Story (2008); Beyond Garrison: Antislavery and Social Reform (2005); and others.  In 2011, Laurie was Scholar in Residence at Historic Northampton under a research grant awarded by Mass Humanities, where he studied abolitionism in Northampton using the resources of Historic Northampton, the David Ruggles Center, and Forbes Library.  His essay "Chaotic Freedom" in Civil War Louisiana: The Origins of an Iconic Image is available through Weightless Books, Amazon Kindle and Kobo.

Picture
​STAN SHERER has published five books of photographs, including Long Life to Your Children! a portrait of High Albania and Founding Farms. He was a Fulbright Scholar to Albania, a recipient of two Mass Foundation grants, and numerous other grants and awards. He has exhibited his photographs across the United States and in Europe. Exhibits/USA traveled his exhibition On the Land: Three Centuries of American Farmlife throughout the country for ten years. Sherer has worked as a photojournalist and documentary photographer in Europe, Africa, the Middle East, Latin America, the Caribbean, and in Asia. He has a strong interest in local history and is Vice President of the Board of Trustees of Historic Northampton. His documentary films include The Brush Shop and The Gilded Cage.  Stan Sherer holds a B.A. from the City University of New York and an M.F.A. from the University of Massachusetts.


​Historic Northampton is located at 46 Bridge Street, Northampton, and is open Wednesday through Saturday from 10-4 and Sundays from 12-5.  There is no admission fee.  Donations are greatly appreciated.  The museum will be closed for Thanksgiving Wednesday - Friday, November 21-23, 2018.  Regular hours resume Saturday, November 24, 2018.

Please note that exhibitions are inaccessible while Programs in the Damon Education Center are in session.
HISTORIC
​NORTHAMPTON
46 Bridge Street
Northampton
​Massachusetts 01060
[email protected]
​413-584-6011
Museum Hours

Historic Northampton is temporarily closed in May and June 2025. Next exhibit:
Slavery and Freedom in Northampton, 1654 to 1783.


For upcoming events and programs, see the  Events Calendar.
​

Hours and Directions
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  • About
    • About Historic Northampton
    • Hours and Directions
    • Volunteer
    • Board-Staff
    • Legal/Financial
  • Programs
    • Upcoming Programs
    • Past Events at Historic Northampton >
      • Past Programs 2025
      • Past Programs 2024
      • Mill River Flood 150 Commemoration >
        • Mill River Flood 150 Commemoration Events
        • Mill River Flood Introduction
        • Mill River Flood Lives Lost
        • Mill River Flood Commemoration Markers >
          • \\\\\\\\Williamsburg Mill River Flood Markers
          • Skinnerville Mill River Flood Markers
          • Haydenville Mill River Flood Markers
          • Leeds Mill River Markers
          • Florence Mill River Markers
          • Northampton Mill River Markers
        • Mill River Flood Who Was Responsible
        • Mill River Flood Guided Walks to the Dam Ruins
        • Mill River Flood Memorial Tree Project
      • Past Programs 2023
      • Past Programs 2022
      • Past Programs 2021
      • Past Programs 2020
      • Past Programs 2019
    • MCC Card to Culture at Historic Northampton
    • Help I am not receiving email announcements
  • Explore
    • Collections & Research
    • History at Home >
      • Videos
      • Interactive Witch Trial
      • Paper Dolls
      • Hidden Histories
      • Scavenger Hunts
      • Coloring Pages
      • Brain Teasers
      • Peg Doll Hunts
      • Jonathan Edwards Prayer Requests
    • Properties >
      • Parsons House
      • Damon House
      • Shepherd House
      • Shepherd Barn 2020
      • The Bridge Street School Sprouts
    • Educational Websites
    • Historic Highlights
    • COVID-19 Stories >
      • Vaccination Photos
      • Submit Your COVID Story
      • Children React
      • Family and Neighborhood Fun
      • It's a New World
      • Hope and Togetherness
      • Images
      • How Illness Feels
      • Brings Forth Memory
      • Blessings and the New Busy
      • Fear and Worry
  • Indigenous Native History
    • Native Histories in Nonotuck
    • Nonotuck Histories Essay by Margaret M. Bruchac
    • Recovering Nonotuck Histories Photo Essay
    • Profiles of Native People
    • Extended Biographies of Native People
    • Nonotuck to Northampton Maps
    • Native LIves Bibliography
  • History of Slavery
    • About the Slavery Research Project
    • Black Enslaved People
    • Free Black People
    • Native Enslaved People
    • Enslavers of People
    • Relationship Map >
      • Relationship Map Family Groups
      • Relationship Map Enslavement
      • Relationship Map Indenture
      • Relationship Map Legal
      • Relationship Map Commerce
      • Relationship Map Foster or Guardian
      • Relationship Map Social Connections
    • Timeline of Slavery in Northampton
  • DONATE
    • Donate to the Spring Appeal
    • WAYS TO GIVE >
      • Monthly Donation
      • IRA Giving
      • Stock Giving
    • Join the Email List
    • Donate to the Collection