1. Creator/Author:
  2. Adalbert Johann Volck (35)

Free Negroes in The North

Creator:
Adalbert Johann Volck
Location:
Maryland, Baltimore
Origin Date:
1861-1863
Materials:
paper
Measurements:
overall: 12 1/2 in x 14 1/2 in
Item ID:
71.2009.081.0140
Holding Institution:
Lincoln Financial Foundation Collection, courtesy of the Indiana State Museum
Available for Viewing:
No
Category:
Fine Art

Description

This etching is a political cartoon by Adalbert Volck, a Southern sympathizer living in Baltimore, Maryland, during the United States Civil War. This cartoon, one of the Confederate War Etchings series, depicts the facade of a boarding house for African-American men. The focal point is a well-dressed white (possibly Henry Ward Beecher, a leader in the antislavery movement) refusing monetary help to the emaciated beggar clothed only in rags: instead he offers a religious ”tract” to him with a gloved hand. On the other side of a fence, another white man looks through his purse to pay two grave robbers for a corpse. All of this is taking place on a street corner called ”Lovely Lane,” outside of an establishment with a sign above the door that reads, ”Praise the Lord Bare Bones Colored Mens Home.” Inside the building, men and women are dancing and carousing. A fight spills out the upstairs balcony. Original etching one of thirty published in Volck's "Confederate War Etchings." Part of The Lincoln Financial Foundation Collection, courtesy of the Indiana State Museum