Below the artwork
Look closer.
Read deeper.
On the steps of Charlestown jail, John Brown encounters an enslaved mother and her child on his way to execution.
The record
The image is a dramatic historical reconstruction rather than a neutral snapshot. Published by Currier & Ives after Louis Ransom, it turns a charged encounter into a reproducible picture that could circulate widely during the American Civil War era.
- Artist
- Published by Currier & Ives, after Louis Ransom
- Date
- 1863
- Medium
- Hand-colored lithograph, heightened with gum arabic
- Dimensions
- 13 × 9 inches, as recorded for a Mississippi State University copy
- Culture / place
- United States
- Current context
- Library of Congress, Prints & Photographs Division
Details to carry with you
- The Library of Congress places the print in the Popular Graphic Arts collection.
- The work is recorded as a hand-colored lithograph by Currier & Ives after Louis Ransom.
- The supplied record dates the print to about 1863.
