“The Scourged Back” Abolitionist CDV of Ex-Slave Gordon

“If you know of any one who talks about the humane manner in which the slaves are treated, please show them this picture. It is a lecture in itself.”

The most influential depiction of the cruelty of enslavement ever produced. Gordon is seated, shirtless, with his back towards the camera. His face is visible in profile and his arm rests on his hip. The tangle of thick scars across his back, relics from his enslavement, dominate the image.

Gordon (also known as “Whipped Peter”) had been enslaved by John and Bridget Lyons at their plantation along the Atchafalaya River in St. Landry Parish, Louisiana. By Gordon’s account he had received a beating so brutal from Overseer Artayou Carrier, he was bedridden for 2 months, during which time he plotted his own emancipation. After a 10-day journey over 80 miles, Gordon arrived at Baton Rouge where the XIX Corps of the Union Army was stationed. There he received a medical examination, was interviewed, and the now iconic images were captured by photographers McPherson & Oliver. The images shortly thereafter were engraved and published as a triptych alongside Gordon's narrative in the 4 July 1863 issue of Harper’s Weekly.

The physical manifestation of enslavement’s cruelty served to galvanize the abolitionist movement in the north and convince many moderates of the cause as the image directly contradicted the idea of benevolent slave owners. An article published in The Liberator on 12 June 1863 (prior to the Harper’s Weekly spread), includes the impressions of the surgeon of the First Louisiana Regiment (Colored): “I send you the picture of a slave as he appears after a whipping. I have seen, during the period I have been inspecting men for my own and other regiments, hundreds of such sights - so they are not new to me; but it may be new to you. If you know of any one who talks about the humane manner in which the slaves are treated, please show them this picture. It is a lecture in itself.”

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