Illustration/Drawing

Uncle Sam

This 19th century illustration provides insight into what forms of work were available to free Blacks, issues of segregation, and the portrayal of Black men in American media.

Howard Pyle depicts Samuel Nimmy, a retired driver on the Old National Pike, or Cumberland Road. Begun in 1811, the Old National Pike ran from Cumberland, Maryland to Wheeling, West Virginia.

Pyle was hired to illustrate W. H. Rideing’s article “The Old National Pike" for Harper's New Monthly Magazine in 1879. The National Pike, approved by President Thomas Jefferson in 1806, was the first federally funded highway and its 620-mile route followed old buffalo paths and Native American trails. The National Pike served as a major gateway to the West for settlers, commodities, and mail.

Rideing interviewed a few men who had worked as drivers of wagons and stagecoaches, including Nimmy. According to Rideing, "his recollections are vivid and detailed in point...although he is eighty-six years old...he lives in a comfortable cottage at Hagerstown (Maryland)...the centre table is loaded with books, principally on Negro emancipation and the events of the Civil War." Although he does not mention it, Black and white drivers had separate overnight quarters and dining areas.

1879

1800s

Samuel Nimmy

Howard Pyle

Physical Dimensions: 11.9" x 9"
Digital Dimensions: 343 × 546

Graphite, charcoal, and gouache on paper

Delaware Art Museum

https://artsandculture.google.com/asset/uncle-sam/OQEZAauCY6wk8g

Photograph and digital image © Delaware Art Museum. Not for reproduction or publication.

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Artifacts of Work Life