Albumen print of Gabriel Giger, first African American to vote in Ottawa, IL

Source catalog description

This description refers to material held by Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and Culture. Visual details below describe the original material.

An albumen print from a carte-de-visite of Gabriel Giger, the first African-American to vote in Ottawa, Illinois. The photograph is roughly oval shaped, with rounded cuts at each corner. The photograph depicts Giger from the chest up. His proper left shoulder is held slightly forward and he is facing the viewer. Giger is depicted wearing a dark frock coat over a dark vest, a white shirt, and a white string bow tie. He has a goatee and his hair is parted on the proper left side. The background is off white and the image is blurred below his chest. There is a pinhole along the top edge. On the verso is the photographer's name, title and location stamped at the center in brown ink that reads [BOWMAN / Photographer / Ottawa, Ills.].

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