‘Scourged Back’ exposed the horror of slavery. Now it’s embroiled in America’s censorship debate

Shot in 1863, "Scourged Back" was a key image in abolitionists' anti-slavery campaigns during the American Civil War. McPherson & Oliver/National Gallery of Art

Depicting a crisscross of welts and scars streaked across the body of a formerly enslaved Louisiana man, “Scourged Back” is one of the 19th century’s defining photographs. The image was so widely circulated in America during the Civil War that it reshaped the abolitionist cause by laying bare the abominable cruelty of slavery to a largely oblivious northern public.

More than 160 years later, the influence of this visceral portrait — whose subject may have been called Peter or Gordon — continues to be felt. Musuems, libraries and universities across the US display historic prints of the image, which is often used to educate audi