Between the Covers

Unbound. Original carbon print or Woodburytype photograph on printed thick card. Image size is 9.75" x 7.5" on a 14.5" x 13" printed mount. Damptains in the corners, a little erosion in the lower part of the mount, the image is near fine, the mount is only good.

A photograph taken in the early 1870s of the Hampton Institute's original Singing Band, of which 11 of the 16 members (comprising eight men and eight women) were born into slavery. Among the most notable members pictured are the lead soprano Carrie L. Thomas, recruited in 1872 from Philadelphia; first and second sopranos Alice M. Ferribee and Rachel M. Elliot, both born into slavery in Portsmouth, Virginia; Lucy Leary, whose father had participated in John Brown's Raid at Harper's Ferry; James H. Bailey, first bass, a teacher and one-time classmate of Booker T. Washington; and first tenor James A. Dungey, whose father had been a member of Virginia's House of Delegates. Programs for the group occasionally appear on the market, but this photograph appears exceptionally uncommon. *OCLC* locates no copies (although we believe that Hampton has a copy).

Item #425972