HISTORIC NORTHAMPTON
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The Need for Iconic Photographs: Race, Images & Representation
presented by Kent Alexander

Date:
​Speaker:
Location:
​Details:
Thursday, December 6, 2018 at 7 pm
Kent Alexander, Anti-Racism and Workplace Culture Consultant
Historic Northampton  46 Bridge Street, Northampton, Massachusetts
​Free and open to the public.  First come, first served.
$5 Donation Suggested. Your voluntary donation at the event makes programs like this one possible.

​In conjunction with Historic Northampton's current exhibit, Chaotic Freedom and the Scars of Slavery, Kent Alexander will explore why iconic photographs of slavery were so useful as instruments of change and why this need still seems to be woven into the fabric of our times. 

Picture
Kent Alexander is a playwright, writer, humanities professor and an anti-racism and workplace culture consultant.  His clients include Cooley Dickinson Health Center, Communities that Care of Franklin County, TerraCorps, Mount Grace Land Conservation Trust, and the Franklin County Community Development Corporation.  He serves as the Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion consultant for the ValleyCreates program initiated by the Community Foundation of Western MA. He lives in Northampton.


While serving as Union army soldiers in 1863 Baton Rouge, Henry S. Gere of Northampton and Marshall S. Stearns of Northfield, met Peter, an enslaved man who fled slavery and entered their Union encampment.   Gere & Stearns were so shocked by the scars on his back that Stearns brought him to a photographer to document the brutality of slavery for a white northern audience.  Gere sent a copy of the photograph to Sidney Bridgman of Northampton for public viewing at Bridgman's Main Street bookstore.  A later version of Peter’s photograph appeared as a wood engraving in the July 4, 1863 Harper’s Weekly.  The image captivated a Northern public and changed public opinion about the war. 
​
Picture
Carte-de-visite of
​Peter, early April 1863
Image courtesy of the National Archives and ​Records Administration
​“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.  According to his story, it was last fall when he received the beating, and notwithstanding the long time intervening, his back was still a complete mass of blisters, the sight of which could hardly fail to make one shudder.  The negro said he was insensible when he was whipped, and that all he knew about it was what his wife told him.  But for the unmistakeable evidence which he bore upon this back, I could not have believed his story.  Lieut. Stearns took him to an artist and had a picture taken of his back.  I have purchased several copies to send home.  One copy I shall send to Mr. S. E. Bridgman, of Northampton, who will show it to any one desiring to see it.  It speaks for itself."

Excerpt from“Letters from the 52d April 6, 1863" written by Henry S. Gere and published in the Hampshire Gazette & Northampton Courier, May 5, 1863
Picture
This later version of the photograph became iconic.
Image courtesy of the
​National Portrait Gallery,
Smithsonian Institution
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. Stay tuned for the next exhibit:
Slavery and Freedom in Northampton, 1654 to 1783.


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

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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
    • Donate to the exhibit Slavery and Freedom in Northampton
    • WAYS TO GIVE >
      • Monthly Donation
      • IRA Giving
      • Stock Giving
    • Join the Email List
    • Donate to the Collection