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[Identification of item], [box #, folder #], "Prayer Meeting in a Contraband Camp – Washington, 1862" Steel Engraving, 1887, SC 0060, Special Collections, Carrier Library, James Madison University, Harrisonburg, VA.
James Madison University Special Collections acquired this item at auction from Cohasco, Inc. in January 2016.
William Ludwell Sheppard (1833-1912) was born in Richmond, Virginia and served with the Richmond Howitzers in the Army of Northern Virginia. He was a watercolorist, illustrator, teacher, and painter who began his career as a tobacco label illustrator. He has been credited with providing valuable imagery of the American South, including the African-American experience, and the Civil War. Other similar works include: "The First African Church, Richmond, Virginia – Interior of the Church, from the Western Wing" (1874), "Negroes Hiding in the Swamps of Louisiana" (1873), and "The Sunny South – a Negro Revival Meeting – a Seeker 'Getting Religion'" (1873).
A contraband camp refers to an encampment set up near Union forces during the American Civil War by certain escaped slaves who allied with the Union.
The "Prayer Meeting in a Contraband Camp – Washington, 1862" Steel Engraving, 1887, is comprised of one 5 ¼ x 8 ¾ inch engraving featuring imagery of African-American worshippers, crowded into a small dark cabin. The prayer meeting attendees are depicted as singing, clapping, dancing, stomping their feet, and generally moving about energetically with arms uplifted. Printed on the bottom border: "Oh I'm gwine home to glory--won't yer go along wid me, Whar de blessed angels beckon, an' de Lor' my Saviour be?'"
The engraving is housed in one letter folder.