Hidden Witness: African-American Images from the Birth of Photography to the Civil War

A glimpse of pictures of African Americans way back when photos of African Americans were rarely taken. I am interested in purchasing more copies....so if you have copies that you are not interested in ........... I'm interested in purchasing them.

These photographs are gorgeous. Many of the readers have probably never seen early photos of free and even prosperous proud ante-bellum black people. I would give this book five stars were it not for the commentary. Jackie Napoleon Wilson tries so hard to interpret the photos that he makes ridiculous assumptions. There is no way to know what was going on in these people's heads. As other reviewers have pointed out, becuase of the daugeretype's long exposure time the man in the photo on page 3 didn't just get caught in the scene he must have been posed. When Wilson says the woman and daughter on page 13 didn't have a close attachment he's speaking nonsense. How on earth can you tell that? Despite the commentary this book is a worthy addition to the bookshelf of anyone who is interested in history.

Normally a picture is worth a thousand words, not so in Wilson's case. This book would have been better left without text. Still, as a picture book, as a real hidden witness to a past that does not show much in the way of photo documentation, the book has worth. The daguerreotypes and rare photos give a glimpse to the lives of African-Americans before abolition. If the reader will become a looker only and search the photos for the truth, then this book will be a valuable source of enlightenment and understanding.

I give this book 4 stars because the photographs are FANTASTIC!! But, I have to agree, Mr. Wilson does take extreme liberty with some of his comments. Don't get me wrong, there are indeed some history lessons to be had here, but indeed on page 27 those women are related. Where he got the idea that these women were merely "abolitionists" puzzles me. I think perhaps he was trying to teach a history lesson here, and he needed a picture to try and fit that lesson, he just used the wrong picture to make his point. I can't imagine someone having such a fabulous picture and not understand the true meaning of it. So, with that said please enjoy the pictures and the history lesson that he's trying to teach. Just don't try and put the two together.

This is a small book loaded with powerful images. Daguerreotypes and ambrotypes of African-Americans from the author's collection and the J. Paul Getty collection are beautifully reproduced. The author, however, should have let these images stand on their own. The majority of photographs taken before 1860 have, due to the passage of time and lack of documentation, become anonymous, with little information about their subjects preserved. It is tempting for viewers (and especially collectors) to speculate on the identity and life of the sitter. While this makes for lively text, there is no guarantee that what the author puts forth is any closer to the reality than what the reader sees in the image. A fireman's helmet makes him a fireman, but it doesn't necessarily make him a Philadelphia fireman. Fine clothes do not always make the sitter well-to-do. Collectors should resist the temptation to attribute more to an image than meets the eye. Ultimately, they should let the images, magnificent in their own right, speak for themselves. Look at these images and fall into your own vision of history's bravest souls.