Figure 1.--Here we have a very interesting tintype image. Unfortunately we do not know when it was taken. There are images of black women holding white childer that they are caring for. Images like this of a black boy holding a white child are much more rare. We believe tht this boy has been assigned to care for the baby who almost surely is a boy. Notice in particular how the black boy is holding the bby's hand. The portrait may have been taken after the Civil war, but probably not long after it.

The one exception to female slave nannies is that the children of plantation owners often had a slave child assign to them. They were nomally same gender children. These slave children commonly were a little older than the white child. Thus they served thee dual putrpose of play mate and minder to make sure a young child did not get hurt. Not uncommonly the slave would go on to be a trusted personal servant as the white child grew up. Here we have a very interesting tintype image. Unfortunately we do not know when it was taken. There are images of black women holding white childer that they are caring for. Images like this of a black boy holding a white child are much more rare. We believe tht this boy here has been assigned to care for the baby who almost surely is a boy (figure 1), although the dealer suggest that it was a girl. We are suspicvious about that. Notice in particular how the black boy is holding the bby's hand. The portrait may have been taken after the Civil war, but probably not long after it. We know very little about the children here. We know that the portrait is a 19th century tintype. The dealer reports, "A friend of mine gave this image to me many years ago. He told me that the boy was named Henry and the child was Ema. His ancestors once "owned" Henry......after the war Henry remained employed with the family for the remainder of his life. I'm not sure what family Henry was with.....My friend was a Shallenberger. "

Created: 8:13 AM 2/12/2006
Last updated: 8:14 AM 2/12/2006