Illustrated Periodicals and Lithographs

This chapter categorizes and analyzes representations of Russian peasants and African Americans in illustrated periodicals and lithographs between 1865 and 1905. It examines popular American publications including Harper’s Weekly, Frank Leslie’s Illustrated Newspaper, the Indianapolis Freeman, the Colored American Magazine, and the lithographs of Currier and Ives. It also assesses widely circulated Russian periodicals Niva and Vsemirnaia illiustratsiia, as well as lubochnaia literatura and lubki, illustrated materials written for the peasantry. The range of portrayals reveals both the multiplicity and evolution of perspectives of peasants and freedpeople during the four decades that followed emancipation.