Dalmany

On February 6, 1844, while in New Orleans, Frenchman Auguste Edouart cut this full-length profile of an enslaved woman, only known as Dalmany—a derivative of her owner’s name, Mr. Dalman. Peter Dalman was a captain of a steamboat ship named Da Soto, known to travel the Mississippi River, carrying, among other things, cotton picked from nearby plantations. Dalmany, as she is called here, wears a long, collared dress, and carries what appears to be a basket or hat, with ribbon ties in her left hand, and a kerchief over her short curls, all of which Edouart has taken care to outline and detail in white. On the back of the silhouette, written in beautiful handwriting, most likely by the artist, are the words, "Dalmany 18 years of age / Slave / born in Kentucky, belonging to Mr. Dalman / New Orealns 6th Febry. 1884." As scholars have noted, the erasure of enslaved people’s birth names and replacement with their new owners’ names was commonplace.