c. 1910. Gelatin silver print on cardstock mount. Image: approx. 6.5 x 4.5 in.; Mount: approx. 10 x 8 in.

Early photograph depicting an African American woman outdoors, captured in a candid moment of labor. She is dressed in a patterned blouse and gingham apron, a combination of workwear typical of rural African American women in the post-Reconstruction South and early Jim Crow era. A headscarf covers her hair. She carries a basket of potatoes in her right hand and slung over her right shoulder is a large chicken.

The background features a wooded area and a split-rail fence, likely a Southern homestead or sharecropping farm. The photographer or photographer's artist hand-colored elements of the print, including the woman's headscarf and the chicken's beak. 

Views such as the example offered here are rare and culturally significant artifacts of African American history, particularly from the early 20th century, when Black subjects were often excluded from or misrepresented in mainstream visual documentation. 

Verso is inscribed in pencil: "Aunt Harriet, Worked at G.J., Former slave, buried near Daddy's grave in, Old People's Home Cemetery. Between, 7th + 5th St."

Further research may reveal a definitive identification. 

[African Americana, African American History, Black History, Slavery, Enslavement, Abolition, Emancipation] [Photography, Early Photography, Historic Photography, Daguerreotypes, Ambrotypes, Tintypes, Cased Images, Union Cases, Albumen Photographs, CDVs, Carte de Visites, Cartes de Visite, Carte-de-visite, Cartes-de-visite, CDV, Cabinet Cards, Stereoviews, Stereocards]