The National Museum of African-American History and Culture has recently discovered an unseen portrait of Harriet Tubman. Per Smithsonian Magazine, a photographer captured the image when she was in her early 40s, and researchers found it in a 19th-century photo album. However, his album belonged to abolitionist and educator Emily Howland. Historians have dated the image to the late 1860s, providing a powerful view of Tubman. Not as the elderly icon we often see in history, but as a composed and determined woman in her prime.
In the recently uncovered carte-de-visite, Tubman sits confidently with her arm resting on the back of a chair. In the portrait, she wears a long-sleeve bodice and a gingham-patterned skirt. However, this is a clothing that reflects her middle-class background and her self-fashioned dignity.
Lonnie Bunch, the founding director of the Smithsonian, noted that the photograph “humanizes her in a way that I would have never imagined,” emphasizing the striking difference between this youthful likeness and the frailer images captured towards the end of her life.
This image challenges the conventional depiction of Tubman as an older woman wrapped in many layers of shawls. The image shows a woman radiating strength and determination during the very years she actively rescued enslaved people and fought for justice.
Hidden for Over a Century
Researchers initially discovered the album at Swann Auction Galleries in New York. Recently, the Library of Congress and the Smithsonian’s National Museum of African American History and Culture co-acquired it. The Library carefully preserved the album, restored its leather cover, and extensively researched and identified nearly all 49 photographs.
According to All Thats Interesting, among the album’s amazing contents is the only existing photograph of John Willis Menard, who was the first African American elected to the U.S. Congress, though he was controversially never seated after a disputed election in 1868. The collection also has portraits of influential figures like Charles Sumner, Lydia Maria Child, and notable personalities from the Civil War. However, they highlight the extensive social justice network of that time.
A Lasting Legacy Of Harriet Tubman on Display
The album is currently on display in Heritage Hall at the NMAAHC. Meanwhile, it encourages visitors to reflect not only on Tubman’s courage and role in the Underground Railroad but also on her multifaceted identity. As director Bunch reflects, “She was tough and resilient… an ordinary person who did extraordinary things.”
This extraordinary portrait transforms our visual understanding of Tubman. It presents her as a dynamic, dignified agent of change. However, it will be on display until the end of summer before becoming part of the museum’s permanent “Slavery and Freedom” exhibition.
