@ellophotography @blackartmatters This newly discovered photograph of Harriet Tubman -- slim, confident and elegant -- was sold recently by a New York auction house on behalf of an anonymous owner. Authenticators estimate that the picture was taken in Auburn, NY between 1866 - 1868 when Ms. Tubman was 46 to 48 years old.
Who would think that such a hard, violent life would have her looking so lovely when most of her pampered contemporaries probably resembled the cryptkeeper at that age.
With Statesman William Seward's promise to sell her a plot of his land (which was totally illegal BTW -- but he was secretly an Abolitionist, his mansion had been a pit-stop on the Underground Railroad and his wife was a Quaker, so he really DGAF), Ms. Tubman, her (second!) husband and her parents relocated to Auburn from Ontario after The Civil War, and her husband rebuilt her house after a fire as well as a home for the aged.
I love the way she stares into the camera in this taut, expressionless way. Like she's still ready, at a moment's notice, to pistol whip the world.
