Head of a Black Man

John Quincy Adams Ward, born Urbana, OH 1830-died New York City 1910 · copyrighted 1898

In the late nineteenth century, this palm-size paperweight with the profile of a Black man could be purchased through a mail order catalog, along with fancy ashtrays and other household objects (see image at right). It has ties to a historical European tradition of adorning household objects with dehumanizing depictions of servitude, from candlesticks to doorknobs, that reinforced a racial hierarchy.