Skip to content

Black Craftspeople Digital Archive

Home
About
People and Places
Archive
Maps
Contact

Black Craftspeople Digital Archive

Home
About
People and Places
Archive
Maps
Contact

Contact

Home
Contact

For More Information

Your Name

Your Email

Message

Search

Search for:

Instagram Feed

Scipio Moorhead was enslaved by white enslaver Joh

Scipio Moorhead was enslaved by white enslaver John Moorhead in Boston, Massachusetts in the 1760s and 1770s. John Moorhead, a Presbyterian minister, was married to Sarah Moorhead who was a painter. It is believed the Scipio may have gained some of his artistic instruction from her. As an enslaved person in Boston, Moorhead met Phillis Wheatley. Scholars speculate that a painting Moorhead completed of Wheatley is what inspired the engraving on her book of poetry, "Poems on Various Subject, Religious and Moral." Wheatley also provided insight into Moorhead's work with her poem "To S.M. a young African Painter, on seeing his Works." Her writing describes the beauty of his paintings and perhaps gives the names of two of his other works: Damon and Aurora. The relationship between Moorhead and Wheatley provides an example of community between enslaved craftspeople and artists within an urban setting.
For more information see: "Scipio Moorhead." In St. James Guide to Black Artists. Gale, 1997; Eric Slauter, "Looking for Scipio Moorhead," in "Slave Portraiture in the Atlantic World," ed. Agnes Lugo-Ortiz and Angela Rosenthal, New York: Cambridge University Press, 2013.
Image 1: Scipio Moorhead, "Phillis Wheatley," 1773, Metropolitan Museum of Art, 49.40.24; Image 2: Frontpiece for Phillis Wheatley, "Poems on Various Subjects, Religious and Moral," London: Printed for A. Bell, bookseller, Aldgate; and sold by Messrs. Cox and Berry, King-street, Boston; Images 3-4: Phillis Wheatley, "To S.M. a young African Painter, on seeing his Works" p. 114-115.

#ObjectOfTheDay Isaac Dockery, New Salem Baptist C

#ObjectOfTheDay
Isaac Dockery, New Salem Baptist Church, 1886. Sevierville, Tennessee.

On Tuesday, we ran a post on James Forten, a succe

On Tuesday, we ran a post on James Forten, a successful sailmaker in Philadelphia. Did you know his son, Robert, continued the family business by becoming a sailmaker as well? Robert followed in his father's footsteps as both a craftsperson and an abolitionist. Forten was also a noted inventor, creating a telescope that went on to be exhibited at the Franklin Institute. Although finanical issues caused him to close the family's sailmaking business, he remained active as abolitionist. When free African Americans experienced waves of disenfranchisement and racism in Philadelphia, Forten moved his family outside of the United States. Forten and his first wife, Mary, had one child together, Charlotte Forten Grimke. He later remarried, having two more sons with his second wife. For a period of three years they lived in Canada before moving to England in 1858. However, with the outbreak of the Civil War, Forten returned to the United States to serve in the Union Army. He rose through the ranks despite being in his fifties. Ultimately, he passed away of typhoid fever before the war ended. While less is known about Robert's life than his father's, his daughter Charlotte detailed much of his life in her own journals as she continued the family tradition of activism and abolition.
For more information see: Don Scott, "A Place in History: Trailblazer Robert Bridges Forten Left Behind Unique Legacy," Times Chroncile, February 2017; "Robert Bridges Forten Born," African American Registry; Julie Winch, "Forten, Robert Bridges," African American National Biography.
Image 1: Photograph of Robert Bridges Forten, courtesy of the African American Registry; Image 2: Notice by James Forten, The National Gazette, November 15, 1834, p.3; Image 3: Pennsylvania (State). Civil War Muster Rolls and Related Records, 1861–1866. Records of the Department of Military and Veterans' Affairs, Record Group 19, Series 19.11 (153 cartons). Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission, Harrisburg, Pennsylvania.

This Saturday, April 10, BCDA Founder and Co-Direc

This Saturday, April 10, BCDA Founder and Co-Director Dr. Tiffany Momon will be giving the keynote lecture for @historicdeerfield Invisible Makers: Textiles, Dress, and Marginalized People in 18th- and 19th-Century America. Dr. Momon's lecture will be at 9:30 on Saturday morning and followed by three panels. Registration for the online program is available online at www.historic-deerfield.org.

Follow on Instagram

Use and Coverage

The contents of The Black Craftspeople Digital Archive are available for research, educational purposes, and private study only. Images used are either in the public domain or used with permission.

Designed by Esencial Creative Co. | Theme: Arrival by WPoperation