FREEDOM TO THE SLAVES. PROCLAIMED JANUARY 1ST. 1863, BY ABRAHAM LINCOLN, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES. "PROCLAIM LIBERTY THROUGHOUT ALL THE LAND UNTO ALL THE INHABITANTS THEREOF." LEV. XXV. 10.
New York: Currier & Ives, [1865]. Color print, 11-3/4" x 15-1/2" [by sight]. A black man, newly freed from slavery, kneels at Lincoln's feet, his shackles broken. He kisses Lincoln's hand. His wife and babies stand behind him. Lincoln's right arm is raised and pointing heavenward. Light uniform toning, but brightly colored. Two blank margin tears at lower right corner, one blank margin tear at upper left corner. Framed in wood [a few small dings] to overall size 16" x 20." Very Good.
"This commemorative print was issued soon after the assassination of President Lincoln to comfort his supporters. The semi-allegorized representation portrayed the former president as the emancipator of enslaved African Americans, guided by divine principles" [Description online at The Met].
Entering Richmond in 1865, Lincoln was met by many former slaves who kneeled before him. Lincoln told them to stand and thank God, not Lincoln, for their freedom. A decade later the Colored People's Educational Monument Association, headed by the African-American abolitionist Henry Highland Garnet. created a memorial to Lincoln. The result was a sculpture, erected in 1876 in Lincoln Park near Capitol Hill, depicting a supplicant slave and a towering Lincoln. Known as the Emancipation Memorial, or the Freedmen's Memorial, it generated some contemporary criticism for its depiction of the inferior position of the black man.
Gale 2311. Not in LCP, Reilly, or Weitenkampf. OCLC 1292616124 [1- OH Hist. Connection], 870219805 [1- IN Hist. Soc.] as of June 2023. AAS also owns a copy. Item #38499
Price: $3,500.00