Abstract
This paper discusses the role of images and race in the development of a mass US visual culture. The images and reception history of David Hunter Strother’s Virginia Illustrated provide a compelling case study through which to consider the importance of racialized viewing to the early success of Harper’s Monthly at a critical moment in media history. My study demonstrates how these images distributed racialized types for mass consumption and, more importantly, how they reproduced a racialized mode of viewing for the illustrated magazine’s multitude of readers. I close by considering the extent to which these images and their mode of racialized viewing was necessary for the illustrated magazine to coalesce what were then still largely regional markets for periodicals segmented by the gender and class of their readers
Presenters
Christopher LukasikAssociate Professor, English, Purdue University, Indiana, United States
Details
Presentation Type
Paper Presentation in a Themed Session
Theme
KEYWORDS
Media, Viewers, Interpretation, Communication, Education
