Black Slave - White Queen, and Colors Between: Discovering America's First Black Portrait Artist by Dave Emmi

Author Dave Emmi’s captivating historical detective narrative, published February 2010, makes the case for artist James Stidum as the first African-American portrait artist.

Black Slave - White Queen, and Colors Between offers important implications for art history, American and Swedish-American history, as well as matters of race and class. The book also encourages renewed discussion of slavery and human dignity—gradations of colors between “black and white truths.”

Motivated by his chance “find” of portraits of African-American businessman and abolitionist Stephen Smith and his wife, Harriet Lee Smith, in storage at the Philadelphia History Museum, Emmi documents Stidum’s likely Swedish ancestry, while also discussing the plight of his enslaved family.

Emmi also finds links to the recently discovered portrait of Queen Christina, painted in Sweden and presented to the Pennsylvania Historical Society in 1876 in recognition of the Centennial celebration of the birth of the United States.

Interest in the book has been immediate and widespread. The Philadelphia Inquirer published the article, "2nd Pair of Rare 1800s Portraits Discovered" on February 16 at: www.philly.com/inquirer/magazine/20100216_2d_pair_of_rare_1800s_portraits_discovered.html and followed up with a second piece, "Search Deepens for Artist of Smith Portraits", two days later at: www.philly.com/inquirer/magazine/20100218_Search_deepens_for_artist_of_Smith_portraits.html

James Stidum worked in the early 19th century and it is highly probable that he was inspired by some of the Swedish portrait artists who were working in the area at that time. The artist's mother was a slave. His father was of Swedish ancestry, a descendant of the first Swedish colony in America, New Sweden (1638-1655) that existed in the Delaware Valley at the time of Queen Christina.

Emmi’s accessible discussion of the artist and his portrait subjects includes the continued relevance of these stories today. Both portraits are housed at the Philadelphia History Museum.

A complete Swedish version of Black Slave - White Queen, and Colors Between  translated by Roine Andersson titled Svart slav – Vit drottning, och färger däremellan: Upptäckten av Amerikas första svarta porträttmålare is included in the text.

For more on Stidum's ancestry visit:
http://homepages.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~tstiddem/index.htm For more information or to order Black Slave - White Queen, and Colors Between: Discovering America's First Black Portrait Artist visit: http://www.daveemmi.net.

For more information, or to request a review copy, contact the author or translator.

Dave Emmi / Author
dave.emmi@live.com  
(484)-433-9356

Roine Andersson / Translator
roine.andersson@jak.se
+26-21-280 66