Citizens of Color, 1863–1890: The ‘Talented
Tenth’
By Haines Brown, From the exhibition of Hartford Black history,
‘A Struggle from the Start’ 7 January 1998
Our view of Black history often fixates on the minority who happened to
have enjoyed success in white man's terms. As a result, it is very
difficult to document the social and economic conditions experienced
by most people of color, such as the role of the church and family
institutions. Here are two examples of the kind of information that
tends to be available to us.
Charles Ethan Porter
The racism that increased toward the end of the century narrowed the range
of employment and the satisfaction that would result from work,
but the barrier was somewhat more permeable for Blacks with unique talents
or abilities. Such a person was Charles Porter, who has recently been
rediscovered as a major 19th painter. He is shown here in about 1911
with a couple of his students at a dinner party, apparently at his studio.
Only a small portion of his works are known today, and what we do have
tends to be work he did in old age after the height of his creative vigor
had already passed.
A photograph of Porter's studio in Cheney Block near the center of
Hartford on Main Street. Porter‘s family had lived
in Hartford since the 18th century, but his father moved to a house in
Rockville when he was a young boy (we are not sure of his
birthdate, which was approximately 1847–50). He set up a studio
in a tower on a Rockville hilltop not far from his family's home
(where the landscape above was painted in about 1880, during his
experimentation years), but by 1877 he also established his
Hartford studio, and later on, one in New York City. By then he had
exhibited and was attracting many students, most of whom were white. The
studio was located on the top floor of the corner tower of Cheney Block.
We name the building today after its architect, Richardson.
Thanks to the sponsorship of Mark Twain, Porter was able to go to
Paris in 1881–84, where he came under a variety of influences
and was able to reach the height of his ability. This still-life vase of
daisies is a work done in his Hartford studio in 1884 shortly after
his return. He is best known for his many floral still lifes, which
are much sought-after today.
Although Porter's personal life is obscure, it is evident that he
experienced a racism of increasing intensity. Porter was acclaimed by
the press and was awarded important prizes, but after settling in
Hartford (he actually spent time travelling and also working in his
New York and Rockville studios—until the latter was hit by
lightening), mounting racism began to lead to social isolation. A Bavarian
artist who shared his studio, Gustave Hoffman, had to sell
Porter's paintings door to door because no one would buy the work
of a Black man. It is said that a significant part of his output in
these years still hang unrecognized on the walls of Hartford homes. By
the time of his death in 1923, racism had thrown him into complete
obscurity, and it was only very recently that he is once again
recognized as one of the country's outstanding late
nineteenth-century artists. For an assessment of Porter's experience
in Hartford's Black community, there is a useful study by
Professor James Miller, Charles Ethan Porter and the Hartford Black
Community
, in Charles Ethan Porter (1847?-1923)
(Marlborough: The Connecticut Gallery, Inc., 1987).
Holdridge Primus
The Primus family can be traced back to a Black freeman, simply named
Primus, who was servant and apprentice of a Dr. Wolcott in the
mid-18th century East Windsor area. He went on to become a doctor
himself. One of his immediate descendents was the sailor, Ham Primus,
whose service was so outstanding he gained a status rare for Blacks:
American citizenship. He married Temperance Asher, and their children
were an important part of Hartford's early Black
community. Holdridge Primus was one of their children. This is a photo
of him from the article,
The Colored People Who Live in
Hartford
, in the
Hartford Courant of 24 October
1915.
Holdridge was employed as a clerk at Humphrey and Syms, which sold
sugar, coffee and tea, during much of his life and eventually became a
silent partner. Here he can be seen standing in the light snow in
about 1860 in front of the store (photo from the Connecticut
Historican Society Museum). He married Mehitable Jacobs, a dressmaker
and a founder of the Talcott Street Congregational Church. By 1850 the
couple had acquired a home at 20 Wadsworth Street, and were considered
wealthy for a Black family.
Among their four children was Rebecca, who was a Maryland
schoolteacher with the Freedman's Bureau, where she sought to advance
the condition of Black people. When she returned to Hartford she
married a Charles Thomas and fell into obscurity, but continued to
teach at the Talcott Street Church school.
Another child was Nelson Primus, who apprenticed as a carriage maker
and painter. In 1864 he moved to Boston to begin a career as a
portrait painter. His work was exhibited in Hartford and Boston, for
at the time downtown Hartford had a lively art colony (that included
Charles Porter), and these artists used their studies to exhibit their
own art and that of others. To see illustrations of his portraits, see
Art and Artists in Connecticut.