“The Picture of Freedom“

Published in Harvard Magazine, May 1, 2024
by Lydialyle Gibson

The two photographic albums at the center of the Boston Athenaeum’s current exhibit, “Framing Freedom,” are deceptively humble: small and squat, with worn leather covers and heavy metal clasps. But the albums, which belonged to nineteenth-century abolitionist Harriet Hayden, are rare and remarkable artifacts, containing dozens of carte-de-visite portraits that shed light on an influential corner of Boston’s anti-slavery movement and hint at a larger nationwide network of African American activists, artists, and politicians. The photographs also reveal a number of Harvard connections, including early black alumni and Hayden herself, who died in 1893 and bequeathed her entire estate to the University to establish a scholarship for black students at Harvard Medical School. That scholarship persists to this day.

Read the full article in Harvard Magazine.