African American Family Portrait 19th Century Tintype Photo

Tintype Photograph showing African American family portrait. 19th century. Measures 2.5 x 3.5". Image shows African American man in three-piece suit, a bowler hat resting on his lap. Two women stand behind him in Victorian dresses, one resting her hand on his shoulder as she gazes off camera. A n african American woman in full white dress with high collar and straw hat sits beside him, her hands clasped on her lap in fingerless gloves. Tintypes, original photographic images printed on thin sheets of metal coated with a dark lacquer or enamel, were invented in 1855 and popularized through the 1860s when they were soon replaced by CDV albumen prints. These (truncated) portraits come from a time just after emancipation when African Americans were creating new lives for themselves. Photography was one way to commemorate freedom and memorialize prosperity, the formerly impossible made possible. Glue stain to verso. Overall very good condition. (Inventory #: 18476)