The Scourged Back

The Scourged Back photograph was and is extremely powerful even today as it brings to life how different things are from the civil war to now and those who tried to bring that change about. The African American in the photo was named Gordon and this picture takes place in Baton Rouge in 1863. The story of Gordon however starts with Gordon escaping his master cleverly by rubbing himself with onions to deter dogs pursuing him. This lead to him running into the Union after some time and joining the army. This is where I think the significance of the picture comes into play because you can see how poorly he had been treated by his master. This makes it interesting that he will now be fighting for the cause of ending the very thing he had endured for so long and that will give him a stronger motive. Also in multiple articles it stated that most African Americans were just content with being in the army because they were then seen as men and not property for once in their lives. That was the most powerful part for me is that just being acknowledged as a human being was as good as it would get for some former slaves. As for the reason that a photo is more effective than a painting in this case is that it hits you harder when you see it for how it truly was. It sticks with you more when you see a photograph because you know for sure that was a real person and that it was a real horrible situation with no exaggeration by an artist, you truly see the horror with your own eyes.