Is it true that the photo depicts the preparation of a slave for sale in the United States of the 19th century?

For several years, public topics have been distributed for several years, which allegedly captures how slaves are prepared for sale in the century before last. We checked whether Internet users correctly describe what is happening in the photo.

The photograph shows three naked black men with bags and three white -skinned dressed men. All of them are in one wooden room. In the foreground, it is captured how one of the dark -skinned is measured growth and, apparently, the size of the neck. Most often, this photo is posted with the following signature: "Preparing a slave for sale, USA, XIX century."

On VKontakte there are dozens of large communities where such posts were laid out, and some more than once. For example, in public History Porn (1.43 million subscribers) and "Secrets of history" (1.47 million subscribers) The record published at least four times (the last posts collected more than 2400 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 "Humanity of mankind" (173,000 subscribers) - as many as six times (a maximum of 250 likes and 30,000 views). Photos with a signature on the sale of a slave also appeared on Twitter (examples here, here And here) and on the site "Picabu".

Slavery in the United States existed until the middle of the 19th century. January 1, 1863 President Abraham Lincoln published The proclamation of the liberation of slaves, but finally slavery was canceled only after a couple of years. 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 in any other place under their jurisdiction. Exceptions are only cases of punishment for crimes for which the party must be properly convicted. Correction ratified December 6, 1865.

It turns out that the above photo was supposed to be taken until the mid-1860s, but the clothes of men do not correspond to that historical period. In fact, the photograph appeared more than half a century after the ban on slavery in the United States. Accordingly, there are no slaves or slaveholders in the picture.

Thanks to the opposite search by the picture, we managed to find out that Sergeant James L. Mcarrigl took this photograph on October 4, 1918. The original picture Store in the national archive of the United States. According to the description presented on the archive website, the photo captures the moment of selection of military uniforms for recruits in the camp of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Maryland. The signature on the photo card reads: "Merki is removed from each recruit, and the results are noted in their uniform forms."

Camp became military base in 1917. During the First World War, more than 400,000 soldiers passed through it, there was a training training ground for three infantry divisions, three training battalions and one material support brigade. On the website of the National Archive there are other photos also taken in this camp on October 4, 1918.

The signature about slaves could appear due to the fact that all the recruits in the photo are dark-skinned, and the officers are white. Perhaps this confused Internet users. Due to segregation during the First World War, more than 350,000 African Americans served In separate units, mainly as support troops. In response to promotions against discrimination and cruelty to the dark-skinned several hundred African Americans, they allowed officer training in Fort De-Minen, Aiva. By October 1917, more than 600 black soldiers received the title of captain, as well as the senior and junior lieutenants.

Photo on the cover: National Archives RG 111

Not true

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