The Frontiers of Color: image and social representation in slavocratic imperial society

Abstract

This article analyzes social representations from slaves and ex-slaves using as historical sources studio photographs and advertisements of slave rentals and slave sales published in daily newspapers. This analysis cross-references two kinds of sources-verbal and non-verbal-in order to show how white society constructed its own image of slavery and, on the other hand, the way black people allowed themselves to be seen by white society.