One of the Edmondson sisters

This portrait depicts a former slave freed by the congregation of Plymouth Church. During the 1850s and 1860s, Plymouth Church in downtown Brooklyn was led by the abolitionist Reverend Henry Ward Beecher. On several occasions, Beecher raised money during his sermons to purchase freedom for slaves from the South. The most celebrated case was that of "Pink" or "Pinky," a young girl auctioned off to demonstrate the horrors of slavery. This portrait of Miss Edmondson was published in the Brooklyn Daily Eagle on February 6, 1910.

For more on this topic, see Documents 7, 13, 14, 15 and 105.

 

 

 

 

 

Citation - Document 8
Photographs: Churches: Plymouth Church of the Pilgrims - Slaves
ca. 1856
Brooklyn Public Library – Brooklyn Collection
www.brooklynpubliclibrary.org/civilwar