"Learning is wealth. Wilson, Charley, Rebecca, and Rosa. Slaves from New Orleans". Photocard by Chas. Paxson, photographer, New York, 1864.

Text on back: "Entered, according to act of Congress, in the year 1864, by S. Tackaberry, in the Clerk's Office of the District Court of the United States, for the Southern District of New York"

"The nett proceeds from the sale of these photographs will be devoted to the education of colored people in the Department of the Gulf, now under the command of Maj. Gen'l Banks"

Notes: The four people shown were from a group of slaves emancipated in Union occupied New Orleans under orders of General Nathanial Banks. 8 were brought to New York City by Colonel George H. Hanks, and put on tour to generate sympathy for emancipation and raise funds for the education of freedmen. This photo is was one of a series sold in this fund raising effort. Half of the former slaves brought north in this effort were very light skinned with Caucasian features, under the presumption that some Whites would be more likely to sympathize with people of White appearance than of more obviously African ancestry.

Links with further details: Mirror of Race: “As White As Their Masters”, Quakers & Slavery: "White Slaves"