A Rare Antebellum Image of Slavery in Georgia, Believed to be the Earliest Known Image of Enslaved African Americans with Cotton sold for $ 324,500 by Cowan’s Auction in Cincinatti, OH, USA on November 15th 2019.
The Anonymous, quarter plate daguerreotype, ca 1850-1860 (Lot 0024A) had an original estimate of $100,000-$150,000
Though its exact provenance may never be known, this daguerreotype is believed to depict the rural Greene County, Georgia plantation of Samuel T. Gentry (1798-1873). Gentry moved to Greene County from South Carolina sometime between 1820 and 1830. By 1830 his family included six white members, and three enslaved African Americans.
While other Gentrys lived in Georgia at the time this image was taken, Federal Slave Schedules from 1850 and 1860 indicate a mere handful were slave holders. And only one — Samuel T. Gentry — (sometimes listed as “Saml”) owned at least 10 slaves, the number depicted in this daguerreotype. From 1850 to 1860, Gentry owned between fifteen and eighteen men, women, and children.
At the time of this writing, the Gentry daguerreotype is the only known antebellum image showing enslaved African Americans displaying cotton, the agricultural product that dominated the economy of the Southern states and elevated a land-owner class through its cultivation. While other images showing the juxtaposition of enslaved African Americans and cotton are known from the Union occupations of coastal Georgia and the Carolinas, this image predates them.
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