Isaiah 61 has huge significance because… The Spirit of the…

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Isаiаh 61 hаs huge significance because... The Spirit оf the Lоrd Gоd is on me,  because the Lord has anointed me  to bring good news to the poor.  He has sent me to heal the brokenhearted,  to proclaim liberty to the captives  and freedom to the prisoners;  2 to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor,  and the day of our God’s vengeance;  to comfort all who mourn,     Christian Standard Bible (Nashville, TN: Holman Bible Publishers, 2020), Is 61:1–2.

The mоst fаmоus Civil Wаr phоtogrаpher, Matthew Brady, got permission from Abraham Lincoln to send out teams of photographers to capture documentary images of the war. This photograph is by Timothy H. O’Sullivan, who worked on one of these teams. Taken in mid-August 1862, shows five Black people and their packed wagon crossing the Rappahannock River near present-day Remington, Virginia. To their left, a group of Union Soldiers are letting their horses drink from the river. One scholar of this photograph points out how the figures move through the space: "The soldiers’ attention is on one another and their horses. Not so in the case of the African Americans." It's almost like O'Sullivan captured two pictures in one image. On the right, a teenage horse rider is careful to keep the wagon and his oxen between himself and the soldiers, while he keeps his eye on the photographer. The two adult men with the wagon show less trepidation. They look perfectly at home in charge of oxen, relaxed on their mounts and in their environment. The two women riding on the wagon are harder to read, as their heads face downwards and bodies face inward; it's hard to tell why.  By mid-1862, Lincoln had not yet issued the Emancipation Proclamation, which only took effect in January 1863. These Black migrants may have been free (free Black people often had a skilled profession like oxen driver or teamster), or they may have been enslaved people stealing themselves away to freedom. The same scholar points out that "slaves did not need a president's permission - or even encouragement - to act in the same of freedom." As soon as the war began, enslaved people began seeking out ways to destroy the slave system in both individual and communal efforts. Across the Confederacy, especially near Union lines, enslaved people took their lives into their hands and headed for Union lines. It is estimated that nearly 400,000 people had freed themselves by movement by 1864.  Source: Susan Eva O'Donovan, "Finding a New War in an Old Image," in J. Matthew Gallman, and Gary W. Gallagher. Lens of War : Exploring Iconic Photographs of the Civil War. University of Georgia Press, 2015. EBSCOhost, search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=nlebk&AN=1018431&site=ehost-live&scope=site. (To see this image at full size, right-click (option-click for Mac) on the image and, from the context menu that pops up, select "Open image in new tab" or "Save image as..." to save it to your hard drive.)    Question: How do you think the Black people in the wagon party likely felt about the Union soldiers, judging from their body language and from what you know about their situation, and how reluctant white Americans were to acknowledge that the Civil War was about ending slavery, not just Southern rebellion? How might their feelings have been different if they were free Black Americans versus enslaved Black Americans? Why do you think the Union soldiers are not paying attention to the wagon party? Why do you supposed this photograph is often shown in U.S. History courses? What does it teach us about the Civil War?