To Make Their Own Way in the World: the Enduring Legacy of the Zealy Daguerreotypes by Peabody Museum of Archaeology and Ethnology - 2020

Cambridge, MA / New York, NY: Peabody Museum Press / Aperture, 2020. 1st edition. Hardcover. VG, corners slghtly bumped. Red cloth covers, white lettering. 485 pages : illustrations (some color). "To Make Their Own Way in the World is a profound consideration of some of the most challenging images in the early history of photography. The fifteen daguerreotypes-made in 1850 by photographer Joseph T. Zealy portray Alfred, Delia, Drana, Fassena, Jack, Jem, and Renty, men and women of African descent who were enslaved in South Carolina. Since 1976, when the daguerreotypes were rediscovered at Harvard University's Peabody Museum, the photographs have been the subject of intense and widespread study. To Make Their Own Way in the World features essays by prominent scholars who explore topics ranging from the photographs' historical context and the "science" of race to the ways in which photography created a visual narrative of slavery and its effects. Multidisciplinary, deeply collaborative, and with more than two hundred illustrations, including new photography by contemporary artist Carrie Mae Weems, this book frames the Zealy daguerreotypes as works of urgent engagement"--

Contents: Foreword / Henry Louis Gates, Jr. -- Preface / Jane Pickering -- Introduction / Molly Rogers -- Gallery: The Zealy daguerreotypes -- Part I. Photographic subjects. This intricate question: the "American School" of ethnology and the Zealy daguerreotypes / by Molly Rogers -- The life and times of Alfred, Delia, Drana, Fassena, Jack, Jem, and Renty / Gregg Hecimovich -- History in the face of slavery: A family portrait / Evelyn Brooks Higginbotham -- Portraits of endurance: Enslaved people and vernacular photography in the Antebellum South / Matthew Fox-Amato -- Part II. Photographic practice. The curious art and science of the daguerreotype / John Wood -- Business as usual? Scientific operations in the early photographic studio / Tanya Sheehan -- Mr. Agassiz's "photographic saloon" / Christopher Irmscher -- Part III. Ideas and histories. Of scientific racists and Black abolitionists. The forgotten debate over slavery and race / Manisha Sinha -- "Nowhere else" : South Carolina's role in a continuing tragedy / Harlan Greene -- "Not suitable for public notice" ; Agassiz's evidence / John Stauffer -- The insistent reveal: Louis Agassiz, Joseph T. Zealy, Carrie Mae Weems, and the politics of undress in the photography of racial science / Sarah Elizabeth Lewis -- Part IV. Memory and projection. Gallery: While sitting upon the ruins of your remains, I pondered the course of history / Carrie Mae Weems -- In conversation with Carrie Mae Weems / Deborah Willis -- Exposing latent images: Daguerreotypes in the museum and beyond / Ilisa Barbash -- Teaching, feeling: Daguerreotype reflections / Robin Bernstein with Keziah Clarke, Jonathan Karp, Eliza Blair Mantz, Reggie St. Louis, William Henry Pruitt III, and Ian Askew.

Edited by Ilisa Barbash, Molly Rogers, Deborah Willis ; with a foreword by Henry Louis Gates, Jr.