White slave propaganda

Common card · No. 419196

White slave propaganda was a kind of publicity, especially photograph and woodcuts, and also novels, articles, and popular lectures, about enslaved people who were biracial or white in appearance. Their examples were used during and prior to the American Civil War to further the abolitionist cause and to raise money for the education of former enslaved people. Children of enslaved mothers were born enslaved, regardless of the status or race of the father. The images included children with predominantly European features photographed alongside dark-skinned enslaved adults with typically African features. All these people, including the seemingly white children, were classified as black under the one-drop rule, as they had both black and white ancestry. It was intended to shock the viewing audiences with a reminder that enslaved people shared their humanity, and evidence that enslaved people did not belong in the category of the "Other".

Read on Wikipedia · Image Harper's Weekley, Public domain