Radical Members of the South Carolina Legislature: Museum Object and Cultural History

The object in the museum catalogue

A carte-de-visite of sixty-four (64) so-called "Radical" members of the reconstructed South Carolina legislature after the Civil War. The upper portion of the carte-de-visite is a composite photograph of bust-style portraits of each Congressional member. Below the composite photograph is printed text on the card identifying fifty (50) of the members of Congress as "colored" and thirteen (13) as "white." The text incorrectly states that sixty-three (63) members are pictured. On the verso is printed text listing the names of the sixty-four (64) people depicted on the front, listed by row, "Lines from Left to Right." Some names are misspelled. All corners of the card are trimmed.

Materials, dates and provenance

• Date: 1868
• Created by: Unidentified
• Subject of: George W. Dusenberry, American, died 1869
• Subject of: Whitefield J. McKinlay, American
• Subject of: Elias Evander Dickson, American, 1832 - 1909
• Subject of: Charles McDuffie Wilder, American
• Subject of: William R. Hoyt, American
• Subject of: Benjamin Franklin Randolph, American, died 1868
• Subject of: David Harris, American
• Type: cartes-de-visite
• Type: albumen prints
• Type: portraits
• Medium: albumen and silver on photographic paper on card mount
• Dimensions: H x W (sheet): 4 × 2 1/2 in. (10.2 × 6.4 cm)
• Dimensions: H x W (image): 3 1/16 × 2 1/4 in. (7.8 × 5.7 cm)
• Place depicted: South Carolina, United States, North and Central America
• Topic: African American
• Topic: Political organizations
• Topic: Politics
• Topic: Race relations
• Topic: Reconstruction, U.S. History, 1865-1877
• Object number: 2016.49.4
• Credit Line: Collection of the Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and Culture
• Data Source: National Museum of African American History and Culture

Sources and reuse

Catalogue descriptions and facts adapted from National Museum of African American History and Culture through the Smithsonian's official Open Access dataset. This record explicitly marks its metadata CC0 1.0; formatting and selection have been changed. The displayed image also has an explicit CC0 designation. The underlying object's rights statement is: Public domain Proper usage is the responsibility of the user.