Snapshots of the Past

Mary Ellen Johnson, ex-slave, Dallas – Vintage Print

Mary Ellen Johnson, ex-slave, Dallas, [between 1937 and ca. 1938] — historic photograph
Mary Ellen Johnson, ex-slave, Dallas, [between 1937 and ca. 1938]. Historic photograph from the Dallas 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

This rare historic photograph captures Mary Ellen Johnson, ex-slave, Dallas in remarkable detail. The original is held by the Library of Congress, so what you hang is a true record of its time.

Order it framed and ready to hang, or unframed to match a frame you already love. A fine choice for anyone who loves history, and a gift that gets noticed. Free shipping in the lower 48 states. Since 2001, Snapshots of the Past has shipped historic prints to tens of thousands of customers around the world.

Mary Ellen Johnson, ex-slave, Dallas

Order a print

Secure checkout · SSL encryptedPowered by Stripe and PayPal

Free shipping in the lower 48 states. The checkout page shows the picture, size and price before you pay.

Sign up for our newsletter

Sent securely. No purchase needed. Unsubscribe anytime.

Ask about licensing or this print

Mary Ellen Johnson is named in this portrait as a former slave living in Dallas, and the photograph is one of a series of small gelatin silver prints made in the late 1930s. It belongs to the Federal Writers' Project slave narratives collection, a Works Progress Administration effort that recorded interviews with formerly enslaved people across the South between 1936 and 1938. The portraits were taken to accompany those interviews, so they capture how these elderly Americans were seen by federal workers during the Depression. Viewers today often look to such images for a face to pair with the spoken testimony in the written narratives.

Created / published[between 1937 and ca. 1938]
Medium1 photographic print : gelatin silver ; 5 x 3 1/4 in.
GenrePortrait photographs 1930-1940.Gelatin silver prints 1930-1940.
Notes420050. Forms part of: Portraits of African American ex-slaves from the U.S. Works Progress Administration, Federal Writers' Project slave narratives collections.
SubjectsJohnson, Mary Ellen. African Americans--Women--1930-1940. Freedmen--Texas--Dallas--1930-1940. Older people--Texas--Dallas--1930-1940.
SourceLibrary of Congress, Prints and Photographs Division
Original scan3,319 × 4,096 px · prints to 11 × 14 in at 300 dpi
ReferenceAMZ-SOTP-HPA-201188

More from the Dallas collection

Snapshots of the Past helps heritage brands, museums, historians and storytellers tell stories with history: historic prints, image licensing and historical storytelling drawn from more than 25 years of research and curation.

Related pictures

[Old Fort Dallas, Miami, Fla.][Old Fort Dallas, Miami, Fla.]George M. Dallas: Vice President of the United StatesGeorge M. Dallas: Vice President of the United StatesIn the domain of King Cotton near Dallas TexasIn the domain of King Cotton near Dallas TexasGeorge Mifflin Dallas, 1792-1864George Mifflin Dallas, 1792-1864J.M. McCormick, Dallas, TexasJ.M. McCormick, Dallas, Texas[Street scene in Dallas, Texas][Street scene in Dallas, Texas]