Child Used as Model for Nation’s Ward

An unidentified young Black boy poses for a photograph on the street outside of Richmond sculptor Edward Virginius Valentine’s studio. On January 3, 1868, the child came to the studio asking for work putting the coal away. Instead, Valentine brought him inside the studio and had him model for him. He left no record of paying the child. Valentine used the boy’s likeness to model two racist caricature sculptures, one entitled The Nation’s Ward and the other entitled Knowledge is Power. The contrast between what the child actually looked like and how Valentine exaggerated his features in the sculptures helps to illustrate the dehumanizing message Valentine wanted his work to convey.