Portraits of Rebecca Huger, a White Slave Girl from New Orleans in the 1860s (23 photos)

In 1863, the Union Army joined forces with several slave relief organizations to organize a photo shoot of slave children, selling the resulting carte de visite to raise funds for schools for freed children in Louisiana. Most of the surviving photographs depict little Rebecca Huger of New Orleans.







Children with "white" features were selected for the shoot, and to appeal to the white middle class in the northern states, they were photographed as typical family portraits. Although some of the former slaves were 6 or 7 years old, young Rebecca Huger was eleven.





Rebecca Huger was the daughter of John M. Huger of New Orleans, a merchant before the Civil War. She was one of 17 house slaves owned by Mr. Huger. Harper's Weekly wrote of Rebecca:

"She is perfectly white in appearance. There is not the slightest trace of negro blood in her complexion, hair, or features."



The editors of Harper's Weekly explained that "the descendants of two or three generations of white fathers are as white, as intelligent, and as obedient as most of our children."

"In a few months at school, she learned to read well and writes as neatly as most children her age."



The back of some of these photographs reads:

"Proceeds from the sale of these photographs will be used for the education of colored people in the Department of the Bay."



This refers to the National Association for the Relief of Freed Slaves, which sold these photographs for 25 cents to pay teachers' salaries and buy school supplies. Some speculate that the fundraising campaign's organizers thought Northerners would be more willing to donate money at the sight of young "white" slaves.



Others believe that Rebecca's age and appearance reminded Northerners of the girls sold at the New Orleans slave market and used as concubines. The photographs seemed to suggest that slavery could threaten even the white population.