UNIQUE COPY (SLAVERY AND ABOLITION.) FILLEY, MRS. CHAUNCEY I. Lived to See the Triumph of Liberty, Justice and Humanity. Commemoration of the One Hundredth Year of American Independence. To aid in establishing a Trade School for Colored Women at St. Louis Missouri. Chromolithograph taken from a painting, 11 x 15 inches, mounted to a piece of heavy stock cardboard (probably as issued); some very slight rubbing at the corners, otherwise an excellent example. St Louis: Mrs. Chauncey I Filley, 1875
A wonderful image, entirely designed by the wife of St Louis's eighteenth mayor, Chauncey I. Filley (1829-1923). Filley was forced to resign from office due to scandal and illness after serving only one year of his two-year term. His wife designed this chromolithograph in order to raise funds for a trade school for colored women. The image is rather unusual, depicting an older black gentleman, with his hands raised up, a pair of broken shackles at his feet. He stands before an old Civil War veteran holding his musket, seated on a rock marked "1876." Behind them, a white baby leans against a rock marked "1776," in front of him, a black infant kneels, his hands tied behind his back. The first example of this highly symbolic lithograph that we have seen. No other copy of this piece could be located.
