Description
<p>Jim Mitchell, a man formerly enslaved by John Augustine Washington III, sits in a somewhat worn suit and hat in this souvenir carte de visite. A pile of walking sticks, perhaps examples of those Mitchell provided to visitors at Mount Vernon, lean next to a piece of prop furniture at his side. Born in 1795, Mitchell had spent the first half of his life enslaved at a plantation called Blakely. He was brought to Mount Vernon in the 1830s or 1840s, where he worked as a field laborer. Post-emancipation, Mitchell worked for the Mount Vernon Ladies’ Association.</p>
