African American Teenage Girl / African American Photography and Black
African American Photography and Black Girlhood in a Nineteenth Century Tintype. Author: African American Teenage Girl Photography Title: African American Photography and Black Girlhood in a Nineteenth Century Tintype. Tintype photograph of Mary Ellison, nineteenth century, documents African American girlhood, formal dress, and studio portraiture in the post-emancipation era. The image supports research into Black visual culture, youth, gender, self-presentation, and the use of affordable photographic formats to preserve individual identity at a time when African Americans increasingly used portraiture to commemorate dignity, family, and social presence. Tintype photograph, nineteenth century, measuring 2.5 x 4 inches. The full-length image shows a teenage African American girl identified by the inscription "Mary Ellison" at the bottom of the plate.
She wears a white pleated gown with a handkerchief around her neck, stands upright with one arm resting on a circular side table, and is posed beside a plush chair. Her direct, thoughtful gaze and carefully arranged studio setting place the portrait within nineteenth-century conventions of respectable self-fashioning.
The photograph's significance lies in its preservation of a named Black adolescent girl as an individual subject rather than an anonymous type. Her clothing, posture, and inscription give the image research value for African American women's history, childhood studies, dress, and post-emancipation photographic identity.
Scratches and smudging to tintype surface; inscription remains visible; overall very good. A strong named African American youth portrait with clear value for the study of Black girlhood and nineteenth-century studio photography. Subject: African American History, Photography. Rambod Inc offers thousands of historical documents, letters, manuscripts, printed ephemera, and first editions in all variety fields. Since 1991, we have served an international clientele of collectors, private.
And public libraries in acquisition and collection development. We are members of ILAB, ABAA, and PADA, and have furnished collections around the world with rare and unique material for over 30 years; from the personal letters of Nobel-Prize winning scientists to first editions promoting abolition or women suffrage. We also offer Important First Editions of Literatre, Americana, Science, Military, African American and Woman History. We offer an unconditional guarantee for each item's authenticity and completeness. This listing was created by Bibliopolis.