Snapshots of the Past

Black, Chinese and White laborers in a gold mine in South Africa – Historic Print

Black, Chinese and White laborers in a gold mine in South Africa, [between 1890 and 1923] — historic photograph
Black, Chinese and White laborers in a gold mine in South Africa, [between 1890 and 1923]. Historic photograph from the Historic Print Archive collection.

(Originally scanned by the Library of Congress. Each image is professionally and digitally cleaned of artifacts such as color bars and extra borders prior to printing.)

Description

Black, Chinese and White laborers in a gold mine in South Africa comes to life in this historic photograph, reproduced from the original with every detail intact. An authentic image from the Library of Congress, it carries the weight of the real historical record.

Framed, it is ready for the wall; unframed, it is ready for the frame you choose. A conversation-starting piece for home, office, or as a meaningful gift. Free shipping in the lower 48 states. Snapshots of the Past, founded in 2001, has served tens of thousands of customers worldwide.

Black, Chinese and White laborers in a gold mine in South Africa

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Few other pictures in the gallery show three groups of workers side by side in one South African gold mine, and this one records the Chinese laborers brought to the Witwatersrand mines after the Second Anglo-Boer War, when the industry faced a severe shortage of workers. Between 1904 and 1910, tens of thousands of Chinese men were recruited under contracts that restricted their movement and sent most of them home once their terms ended. The print comes from the Frank and Frances Carpenter Collection, assembled by a travel writer and photographer who documented workers and cultures across the world in the early twentieth century.

Created / published[between 1890 and 1923]
Medium1 photographic print.
GenrePhotographic prints 1890-1930.
SubjectsTitle and other information transcribed from caption card and item. LOT subdivision subject: South Africa. Frank and Frances Carpenter Collection (Library of Congress). Caption card tracings: Mines...--Gold; Chinese in S. Afr.; Negroes in S. Afr.; South Africa; Miners; Shelf.
SourceLibrary of Congress, Prints and Photographs Division
Original scan1,536 × 1,189 px · prints to 5 × 4 in at 300 dpi
ReferenceAMZ-SOTP-HPA-119114

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