[H/T to Jubilo! The Emancipation Century]
This popular Currier & Ives print from 1865, depicting the evacuation of Richmond, Virginia, is one of the most popular images of the city in April 1865. It is impossible not to drive north toward the city on I-95 without it entering your mind’s eye. Now it is being used by the Richmond Metropolitan Convention & Visitors Bureau to attract tourists to the city’s rich Civil War history as well as the rest of the state.
The use of this particular print is a clever marketing technique that almost functions as a gestalt switch between two interpretations. On the one hand, we know this image as marking the end of the Confederacy, but in the hands of the Visitors Bureau it is now a symbol of new beginnings. We can freely move back and forth between the two interpretations.
To use this image, however, is to be reminded that the burning and evacuation of Richmond did lead to the emancipation of thousands of Richmond slaves that were freed by the Union army. It is story that all Americans ought to explore if they are truly interested in the American Civil War. Of course, we are likely to hear the same tired rumblings from certain quarters, but let’s be clear about one thing. While good marketing works to sway the perceptions of potential customers it must begin by acknowledging how they currently view their world and what will motivate them to take action.
In this case it is safe to say that this ad builds on certain cultural, social, and political changes that have been at work in Richmond for the past three decades.