Portrait of Sarah Parker Remond c. 1865 Peabody Essex Museum Salem in History, 2006 Portrait of Sarah Parker Remond, c. 1865 Photograph

H I S T O R I C A L C O N T E X T Sarah Parker Remond (1826-1894) grew up in Salem, MA as one of eight children in the family of John and Nancy (Lenox) Remond, who are best known for their highly successful catering business and their support of African American rights.When John Remond’s daughters passed entrance requirements but were not allowed to attend the local segregated “white” school, he moved his family to Rhode Island where they received an excellent education at a private school. Remond was in a financial position to make such choices for his family, and he advocated for others to have the same rights. Remond became a life member of the Anti-Slavery Society in 1838 and his activist spirit and business acumen inspired his eight children. Sarah Parker Remond’s work was all the more notable because she was a successful female acting in the pub- lic sphere. In 1853, she attended an event at the Howard Athenaeum in Boston, and refused to sit in the seg- regated seats. She was removed forcibly and fell down a flight of stairs. Remond successfully brought her case to court and was later granted a small award. In 1856, at age thirty, she was willing to lecture as an agent of the American Anti-Slavery Society. Sarah Remond toured both America and Europe as a well-received speak- er, and she chose to remain abroad, where she died.

A R T H I S T O R I C A L C O N T E X T Sarah Parker Remond is posed in a manner that is typical for the period. She does not smile, but her face offers the viewer a pleasant, calm appearance. Her body appears to be somewhat stiff, which may suggest that Remond had a disciplined comportment. However, it is also true that photographs in the mid-nineteenth cen- tury still required sitters to be very still for several seconds while the image was exposed onto a “wet” plate. This technique was introduced in 1851 by Frederick Scott Archer. The “wet plate” process was relatively cheap and typically resulted in sharper images than the daguerreotype produced. A glass plate was coated with chemicals, and then immersed in silver nitrate. While wet, the plate was exposed, developed, fixed, and then dried. Photographs such as this might be given to family or friends, or, in Remond’s case, might also be distrib- uted to people who admired her for her public activism.

SAMPLE GUIDING QUESTIONS • How would you describe the person in the photograph? At one point in the sitter’s life do you think this photograph was taken? • Photographs were expensive portraits to have made during this time. Why might a portrait have been made of this woman? • What obstacles would Remond have faced as she participated in antebellum America? • What does Sarah Parker Remond’s involvement in the abolitionist movement suggest to you about attitudes in Salem? In the United States?

SUGGESTED LEARNING ACTIVITIES • Ask students to research the contributions of other important leaders in the abolitionist movement, such as , , or the Grimke sisters. Compare and contrast the methods used by these people to garner support for their cause. Students may want to look at similarities (Garrison was also from the North Shore, Douglass was also black, the Grimkes were also women) and differences in depth. • Ask students to read about Sarah and other members of the Remond family (see entries at http://www.saleminhistory.org/SocialChangesSocialReform/abolitionism/primarysources.htm) and then write a memorial or obituary for her.

2003 Massachusetts History and Social Science Curriculum Frameworks: 5.35, USI.31, USI 35, USI 36

1 French artist and chemist Louis J.M. Daguerre patented the daguerreotype photographic process in 1839. It involved exposing an image onto a smooth surface (metal or glass) that was coated with chemicals. Peabody Essex Museum Salem in History 2006