likely the first published portrait of a runaway slave in America
(SLAVERY AND ABOLITION.). Portrait of a runaway enslaved man titled “A Good Likeness of Sancho” in the Columbian Centinel
Boston: Columbian Centinel, 30 September 1807
Folio (20 x 13 in.). 4pp. Untrimmed, never bound. Light browning. Near fine.
This is probably the earliest American runaway slave advertisement to feature an accurate likeness of its subject.
Sancho escaped from a Mississippi plantation and was presumed to have made his way north. Winthrop Sargent (1753-1820), who has signed the notice in print, had served as an officer in the Revolutionary War officer. He later became governor of Mississippi Territory and a plantation owner in Natchez, Mississippi. He offers a reward of up to $100 for Sancho’s return and presents an extraordinary portrait of Sancho, “a good likeness,” presumably made from a cut paper silhouette.
Sancho is described as “a Negro man, thirty years of age, about 5 feet high, very black complexion . . . & a fast walker.” He “had learned the trade of a Barber and is in every respect a most accomplished servant for a gentleman or a family; was born and educated in his master’s house; endeared to him and his mistress and his own wife and children, as well as the numerous blacks of his Master’s Plantations, by long, affectionate and faithful services.” Sargent suggests that Sancho was so loyal that he must have “been inveigled away by some artful villains for their own use.”
A landmark portrait in the history of American slavery.
$2,200