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Franklin Research Center - Teaching with Primary Sources

This guide contains modules for remote learning with primary sources held in the Rubenstein Library with collections from the John Hope Franklin Research Center

Resource #4 - "Presentation" (1839) Broadside

President Martin Van Buren receives a black minister from Haiti, portrayed as caricature, as part of formal recognition of Haiti. (1839)

*Curator Questions and Notes*

  • What does the artists' representation of the Haitian emissary say about American perceptions of the country and it's people?
  • President Van Buren was in office during the Amistad incident of 1839 when enslaved Africans abducted from Sierre Leonne to be sent to Cuba seized the ship and ordered the crew to sail back to Africa. The ship was ultimately taken into custody by the US Navy off the coast of Long Island, NY.