This story originally appeared in the Spring 2022 print edition of the Tennessee State Museum Quarterly Newsletter.

Ambrotype of Lucy

The Museum recently acquired this ninth plate ambrotype of an enslaved girl, identified as Lucy. The ambrotype is accompanied by a manuscript document, detailing the sale of this nine-year-old girl. The document, authored by John W. Freeman, states, “Know all men by these presents that I John Freman (sic) of Robertson & state of Tenn have bargained sold & delivered to TJ Waggoner (sic) of the county of Davidson & state of Tenn a negro girl named Lucy nine years old for the sum of six hundred and forty-seven…given under my hand and seal this 5 of Feb 1859.”

Ambrotype of Lucy, an enslaved child, about 1859, 2022.17.1. Image courtesy of Hindman Auctions.

The photograph was likely taken in Nashville. Lucy’s hair is parted, and she wears a more distinctive dress than is seen in most similar photographs. Given the fact that a girl of this age would often have had an adult pictured with her, she may have been an orphan. The 1860 slave schedules show a record for T.J. Wagoner of Davidson County, Tennessee. Wagoner was the owner of 11 enslaved persons as of June 30, 1860, and one of these individuals is an 11-year-old girl, likely Lucy, whose name is not recorded. Wagoner is listed in the census as a merchant with $3500 in property value, a great deal of which was likely in enslaved persons. It is difficult to guess what may have been the fate of this girl, but her likeness will now be preserved, with her name, for perpetuity in the Tennessee State Museum collection.

Chief Justice A.A. Birch Judicial Robe

This judicial robe was recently donated to the Tennessee State Museum. It belonged to Chief Justice Adolpho A. Birch. He was the first African American to serve as the Chief Justice of the Tennessee Supreme Court. After attending Lincoln and then Howard University, where he received a Doctor of Law degree, Birch moved to Nashville and taught at Meharry Medical College, Fisk University, and Tennessee A&I University. He had a private law practice and provided representation for students who were arrested in the Nashville lunch counter sit-in protests. Over the next 40 years, Birch served in every level of the state’s court system. He is the only person in Tennessee’s history to have done this and was often the first Black Tennessean in many of those positions.

Robe, owned by Tennessee Supreme Court Chief Justice Adolpho A. Birch, late 20th century, 2022.9

This robe joins a collection of items associated with Chief Justice Birch donated to the Museum in 2010. Artifacts in the Museum’s collection, including photographs, certificates, posters, newspaper clippings, a writing desk, and a gavel, help illustrate his distinguished career and important contributions to Tennessee history.