Caption, an old-time midnight slave funeral, casket being carried to gravesite; scene lit by torches. In those portions of the South where the plantations were largest, and the slaves most numerous, they were very fond of burying their dead at night, and as near midnight as possible (Pierson,p. 284).

Hamilton Pierson, In the Brush; or, Old-time social, political, and religious life in the Southwest (New York, 1881), facing p. 284. (Copy in Special Collections Department, University of Virginia Library)

English

Image is in the public domain. Metadata is available under Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International.

NW0177

North America

"Funeral, Antebellum U.S. South, 19th cent.", Slavery Images: A Visual Record of the African Slave Trade and Slave Life in the Early African Diaspora, accessed June 6, 2023, http://slaveryimages.org/s/slaveryimages/item/1854