Rosa. A Slave Girl from New Orleans [caption title]

New York: S. Tackaberry, 1864. Very good.. Carte de visite photograph, 3.25 x 2 inches, on a slightly larger printed mount. Minor soiling and spotting, light edge wear. One of a series of CDVs featuring recently freed slaves produced in 1863-64 as part of a fundraising effort in the American South. This image is noted as "No. 10" at the top of the verso. According to a notice printed on the verso: "The nett proceeds from the sale of these Photographs will be devoted to the education of colored people in the department of the Gulf, now under the command of Maj. Gen. Banks." The funds were used to establish schools for former slaves in southern Louisiana during the Union occupation of the region. The photograph was taken by Charles Paxson of New York, and copyrighted by S. Tackaberry in the Southern District of that state.

The subject of the present photograph is Rosina Downs; she poses in a bonnet and jacket, with her arms crossed, looking left. A handful of photographs featuring Rosa were issued during the Civil War, including one in which she posed with another freed slave named Isaac White and yet another where she appeared with two other young women, Rebecca and Augusta. An entirely different image of Rosa, in which she looks directly into the camera, was also issued under the same title as the present photograph, but noted as "No. 1" at the top of the verso. According to the January 30, 1864 issue of Harper's Weekly: "Rosina Downs is not quite seven years old. She is a fair child, with a blonde complexion and silky hair. Her father is in the rebel army. She has one sister as white as herself and three brothers who are darker. Her mother, a bright mulatto, lives in New Orleans in a poor hut and has hard work to support her family."

The present image was issued first in 1863 under the copyright of George Hanks with the photographer noted as M.H. Kimball, according to the photograph held by the Library of Congress. All versions of the photographs of Rosa seem to be exceedingly rare.