At first glance I was convinced our cover was from a very famous series of slave daguerreotypes from the advent of photography I learned about in a course on the history of photography. First I want to tell you a little about the photographs I was thinking of, because I believe our cover art was influenced by the work (both utilize very scientific viewpoints and show the subject primarily unclothed), and it relates quite interestingly I think to our discussion of race.
A quite well regarded scientist named Louis Agassiz, who did groundbreaking work on the ice age, commissioned a series of photographs in 1850 of slaves he believed would prove racial difference, specifically black inferiority. He believed by showing different physical characteristics, he would prove that they should be subordinate. He was also trying to support the theory we discussed in class of separate creation, which would indicate that blacks were another species entirely, and thus it was “fair” to treat them inhumanely.
The photographs are stunning, both in the scientific approach to their composition, and the simultaneous bit of dignity these marginalized people were able to maintain. Despite being treated as test subjects, these are ultimately people, and these photographs convey that too. I believe the series of photographs parallel how Equiano illustrates black humanity through comparing his African society to the Europeans and relating his experience with dignity.
Now onto a brief discussion of our cover photograph, which was created 20 years after the daguerreotypes in 1870. I can discern by the title “Portrait of a Man” rather than say a label of slave by region of Africa that this was probably created by an artist rather than for scientific ends. For what I can discern the image may have been made by a portrait painter who late in life may have adopted photography named Thomas Sully. He lived in Philadelphia for most of his life and his residence is now a historic landmark. I have ravenously researched this image and been unable to find it anywhere else to confirm who made it other than on the cover of our book, please let me know if you find a copy of it!
**For more information on the daguerreotypes read an excellent article online through the Vanderbilt Library called Black Bodies, White Science: The Slave Daguerreotypes of Louis Agassiz
http://www.jstor.org.proxy.library.vanderbilt.edu/stable/2963000?seq=5
