Is it true that the photo shows a slave being prepared for sale in the 19th century USA?

For several years now, public historical sites have been distributing a photo that supposedly shows slaves being prepared for sale in the century before last. We checked whether Internet users correctly described what was happening in the photo.

The photo shows three naked black men with bags and three white-skinned clothed men. They are all located in one wooden room. In the foreground, one of the dark-skinned men is being measured for his height and, apparently, his neck size. Most often, this photo is posted with the following caption: “Preparing a slave for sale, USA, 19th century.”

There are dozens of large communities on VKontakte where similar posts have been posted, some more than once. For example, in public History porn (1.43 million subscribers) and "Secrets of History" (1.47 million subscribers) the post was published at least four times (the latest posts collected more than 2,400 and 390 likes and 250,000 and 70,000 views, respectively), in World of history (2.077 million subscribers) - twice (maximum 1970 likes), and in "History of Humanity" (173,000 subscribers) - as many as six times (maximum 250 likes and 30,000 views). A photo with a caption about the sale of a slave also appeared on Twitter (examples here, here And here) and on the website "Peekaboo".

Slavery existed in the United States until the mid-19th century. January 1, 1863 President Abraham Lincoln published The Emancipation Proclamation was issued, but slavery was finally abolished only a couple of years later. On January 31, 1865, shortly before the end of the Civil War, Congress accepted 13th Amendment to the US Constitution. This amendment prohibits slavery and forced labor in the United States or any other place under its jurisdiction. The only exceptions are cases of punishment for crimes for which the party must have been duly convicted. Amendment ratified December 6, 1865.

It turns out that the above photo must have been taken before the mid-1860s, but the clothing of the men does not correspond to that historical period. In fact, the photograph appeared more than half a century after slavery was banned in the United States. Accordingly, there are neither slaves nor slave owners in the picture.

Thanks to a reverse image search, we were able to determine that this photo was taken on October 4, 1918 by Sergeant James L. McGarrigle. Original photo stored in the US National Archives. According to a description on the archive's website, the photo shows the selection of military uniforms for recruits at Camp Meade, Maryland. The caption on the photo card reads: “Each recruit is measured and the results are noted on their uniform forms.”

Camp became military base in 1917. More than 400,000 soldiers passed through it during World War I, and it was a training ground for three infantry divisions, three training battalions, and one logistics brigade. There are other photographs on the National Archives website, also taken in this camp on October 4, 1918.

The caption about slaves could have appeared due to the fact that all the recruits in the photo are dark-skinned, and the officers are white. This may have confused Internet users. Due to segregation during World War I, more than 350,000 African Americans served in individual units, mainly as support troops. In response to protests against discrimination and mistreatment of blacks, several hundred African Americans were allowed to undergo officer training at Fort Des Moines, Iowa. By October 1917, more than 600 black soldiers had been promoted to captain and first and second lieutenant.

Cover photo: National Archives RG 111

Not true

What do our verdicts mean?

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