Kenneth W. Porter photograph collection

Abstract

The Kenneth W. Porter Photograph Collection consists of portraits, field research photographs and photographic reproductions compiled by Porter for his research on Black Seminoles, including the Seminole Negro Indian Scouts, that he conducted during the 1940s to the 1970s.Some of these images appear in his book "The Black Seminoles: History of a Freedom-seeking People," which was published posthumously in 1996.

The collection depicts some figures who were members of the Seminole Negro Indian Scouts, including Lieutenant John Lapham Bullis, commander of the Seminole Negro Indian Scouts, in studio portraits as a Union officer during the Civil War (ca. 1864) and during his command of the scouts (ca. 1870s); a 1902 studio portrait of John Jefferson (John Horse II), the grandson of Black Seminole chief John Horse, who served in both the Tenth Cavalry and the Seminole Negro Indian Scouts; studio portraits of Charles H. Williams (Banjo Dick), Renty Grayson and Pompay Factor who were all former Seminole Negro Indian Scouts (n.d.); and group portraits of the Seminole Negro Indian Scouts taken at various times (1889, ca. 1910, and ca. 1913-1914) during the unit's declining years at Fort Clark, Texas.

The collection also consists of snapshot portraits and views either taken by or collected by Porter during his field research on Black Seminoles living in Texas, Florida and Mexico, mostly during the 1940s. This includes candid portraits of the inhabitants, views of dwellings and structures, and views of the Rio Sabinas at the Black Seminole village of Nacimiento, Coahuila, Mexico (1942); views and details of the Mt. Zion Seminole Baptist Church's chink-house construction in Brackettville, Texas (1943); undated views of Kickapoo Indian huts; views of a cornfield, the old landing and the commissary (identified here as the barracks) built in the 1840s by Black Seminoles at Fort Gibson, Oklahoma (1942); candid portraits of Black Seminole "informants" that Porter interviewed (1942-1943); and candid portraits of former Black Seminole scout Renty Grayson and his wife in front of their home at Brackettville, Texas (ca. 1924).

Also included are photographic reproductions of undated lithographs and drawings of early to mid-nineteenth century Native American figures, including Seminole Indian chiefs Alligator (Halpatter Tustenuggee), Cloud (Yaholoochee), Grizzly Bear, King Philip (Emathla) and Michenopah; Black Seminole chief Abraham; and a Lipan (Apache) warrior.

Dates / Origin

Date issued: 1870

Library locations

Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture, Photographs and Prints Division

Shelf locator: Sc Photo Kenneth W. Porter Collection