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| Field name | Value |
|---|---|
| Title | The Four Snow-White Albino Boys Born of Negro Parents! As they Appear in their Unrivaled Musical Entertainments |
| Date | 1844 |
| Record ID | 151712 |
| Collection Name | Lithographs |
| Reference | Lithf Thay Four |
| Theme | Race, Ethnicity and Racism Professions Family and Relationships |
| Library of Congress Subject | Four Albino Negro Boys (Musical Group) African Americans Albinos and albinism Musicians Portraits Advertisements Concerts |
| Genre | Pictorial Works |
| Description | 1 print : lithograph, b&w ; image and text 46 x 36 cm., on sheet 54 x 41 cm. |
| Author | Shurtleff, Nathaniel Bradstreet (1810-1874) Abbot, Samuel Leonard (1818-1904) Smith, Jerome Van Crowninshield (1800-1879) |
| Publisher | Thayer & Co |
| Places | Boston |
| Document Type | Lithograph |
| Book Type | Lithographs Advertisements--Concerts |
| American Antiquarian Society Copy Notes | Subject: Four boys dressed in tunics over pantaloons stand in a row, each playing a musical instrument, before a backdrop of palm trees and hills. The smallest boy, at far left, plays the bones; the tallest boy, next to him, plays a violin; the third boy plays a banjo; and the fourth boy plays a tambourine. All are depicted with white curly hair and fair faces. Notes: "Certificates. This certifies that I have examined four boys now being exhibited, and declare them to be genuine albino negroes. These boys being incontestibly of true negro parentage and possessing in an eminent degree all the characteristics of the leucoethiopes (white negroes,) viz: a pearly white skin, white hair, and pink pupils of the eyes, together with all the features of full-blooded negroes, are not to be mistaken for or confounded with mulattoes. Nathaniel B. Shurtleff, M.D. Boston, February 13th 1844. It is seldom that one has an opportunity of seeing such excellent specimens of the albino variety of the negro race. No one who has seen can doubt for a moment their negro parentage. The character of the features, the retreating forehead and crisp hair establish it beyond a doubt, while the extreme fairness of the skin and the entire absence of color in the hair, render them objects of great interest to the curious or scientific. S.L. Abbott, M.D. Boston, February 16th 1844." "The following notice is from the Boston Medical & surgical journal, and written by its talented editor, Dr. J.V.C. Smith; The four white boys, born of negro parents, and now on exhibition, are extraordinary curiosities. There is not an instance on medical record, of the birth of a black child from a white parentage, but many of an opposite character. To the philosopher such anomalies are problems of the highest interest, and all persons of ordinary curiosty, should avail themselves of an opportunity for seeing such a sight the like of which does not occur oftener, perhaps than once in several millions of births." The American Antiquarian Society copy annotated: Now at the Lowell Museum. |
| Library/Archive | American Antiquarian Society |
| Copyright and Source Archive | Content compilation (c) 2020, by the American Antiquarian Society. All rights reserved. |
| Catalog Record Note | Catalog Records (c) 2020, by the American Antiquarian Society. All rights reserved. |