(13) 1862 Photograph shows African American Slave Family or Families Posed in Front of Wooden House, on the Plantation of Dr. William F. Gaines, Hanover County, Virginia

This photograph shows the plantation of Dr. William Gaines in Hanover County, Virginia. The image shows just how widespread slavery was at the time, portraying just how many slaves just one plantation owner owned. William Gaines owned as many as fifteen slaves in the 1860s, and his father owned seventy-four, who lived in twelve different slave dwellings. Showing the disproportionate wealth of these plantation owners, as well as just how many humans they owned is a grim reminder of what was considered commonplace at the time.