Museum reveals a Louisiana painting that had an enslaved child camouflaged for over 100 years
After Bélizaire was sold, he was painted out of the family portrait.
Louisiana painting had enslaved child camouflaged for 100 years.
There are parts of history that are overlooked or forgotten, but the truly astonishing thing is the lengths to which people will go to cover them up. The thing about hiding parts of history, though, is that they always find their way into the light, and that's exactly what happened with a child named Bélizaire.
In 1972, a painting of three white children was donated to the New Orleans Museum of Art by Audrey Grasser, who inherited the family portrait. When she dropped off the painting, she informed the museum that there was an enslaved Black child in the picture that had been painted over.
The painting was never displayed in the museum. It actually sat in the basement for more than 30 years, and when speaking to Audrey's son, Eugene, there's no family story on why the boy was painted over. The Grasser family didn't seem to have much information about the boy at all, but he was important enough to be painted with the enslaver's children.
"The family story was, it was a favorite slave they had that was painted in the picture," Eugene tells The New York Times. "And then for whatever reason, sometime later, he was painted out. No idea why."
It was the determination of Jeremy K. Simien, an art collector and historian, that helped bring the enslaved boy's face and name to light. After finding two different auctions of the same painting, one revealing all four children and an earlier one showing only the white children, Simien got curious. He brought the painting back to Louisiana and brought in someone who finds the records of enslaved people.
It's quite fascinating to see the entire thing unfold. The records of enslaved people aren't kept with birth certificates and such in Louisiana, they're kept with property records. It's a small but breathtaking fact that, even to this day, the records of enslaved people...people, are still stored with property records. It's a sobering reminder of how close we actually are to a history that feels so far away.
After a bit of digging, Louisiana Historian Katy Morlas Shannon found that the enslaved child in the photo was named Bélizaire. He was sold to the Frey family at the age of 6 with his mother and was believed to be a caregiver for the children in the photo with him. But there was some sort of bond between the enslaver and Bélizaire as he traveled with Mr. Frey on his merchant voyages.
The child's relationship with the man who enslaved him raises a few questions that may never fully be answered. If he was such an important member of the family, then why did he get covered up? Clearly, one of the children in the painting was Mr. Frey's son, so why didn't he bring his own child to learn the family trade?
Bélizaire lived with the Frey family helping to care for their children until the wife of his enslaver sold him to another plantation after the death of Mr. Frey. Watch the entire discovery of Bélizaire play out below.
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There's a reason why some people can perfectly copy accents, and others can't
Turns out, there's a neurodivergent link.
A woman in black long sleeve shirt stands in front of mirror.
Have you ever had that friend who goes on vacation for four days to London and comes back with a full-on Queen's English posh accent? "Oooh I left my brolly in the loo," they say, and you respond, "But you're from Colorado!" Well, there are reasons they (and many of us) do that, and usually it's on a pretty subconscious level.
It's called "accent mirroring," and it's actually quite common with people who are neurodivergent, particularly those with ADHD (Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder). According Neurolaunch, the self-described "Free Mental Health Library," "Accent mirroring, also known as accent adaptation or phonetic convergence, is the tendency to unconsciously adopt the accent or speech patterns of those around us. This linguistic chameleon effect is not unique to individuals with ADHD, but it appears to be more pronounced and frequent in this population."
Essentially, when people have conversations, we're constantly "scanning" for information—not just the words we're absorbing, but the inflection and tone. "When we hear an accent, our brains automatically analyze and categorize the phonetic features, prosody, and intonation patterns," writes Neurolaunch. For most, this does result in copying the accent of the person with whom we're speaking. But those with ADHD might be more sensitive to auditory cues. This, "coupled with a reduced ability to filter out or inhibit the impulse to mimic…could potentially explain the increased tendency for accent mirroring."
While the article explains further research is needed, they distinctly state that, "Accent mirroring in individuals with ADHD often manifests as an unconscious mimicry of accents in social situations. This can range from subtle shifts in pronunciation to more noticeable changes in intonation and speech rhythm. For example, a person with ADHD might find themselves unconsciously adopting a Southern drawl when conversing with someone from Texas, even if they’ve never lived in the South themselves."
People are having their say online. On the subreddit r/ADHDWomen, a thread began: "Taking on accents is an ADHD thing?" The OP shares, "My whole life, I've picked up accents. I, myself, never noticed, but everyone around me would be like, 'Why are you talking like that??' It could be after I watched a show or movie with an accent or after I've traveled somewhere with a different accent than my 'normal.'
They continue, "Apparently, I pick it up fast, but it fades out slowly. Today... I'm scrolling Instagram, I watch a reel from a comedian couple (Darcy and Jeremy. IYKYK) about how Darcy (ADHD) picks up accents everywhere they go. It's called ADHD Mirroring??? And it's another way of masking."
(The OP is referring to Darcy Michaels and his husband Jeremy Baer, who are both touring comedians based in Canada.)
Hundreds of people on the Reddit thread alone seem to relate. One comments, "Omfg I've done this my whole life; I'll even pick up on the pauses/spaces when I'm talking to someone who is ESL—but English is my first language lol."
Sometimes, it can be a real issue for those around the chameleon. "I accidentally mimicked a waitress's weird laugh one time. As soon as she was out of earshot, my family started to reprimand me, but I was already like 'oh my god I don’t know why I did that, I feel so bad.'"
Many commenters on TikTok were shocked to find out this can be a sign of ADHD. One jokes, "Omg, yes, at a store the cashier was talking to me and she was French. She's like 'Oh are you French too? No, I'm not lol. I'm very east coast Canada."
And some people just embrace it and make it work for them. "I mirror their words or phrase! I’m 30. I realized I start calling everyone sweetie cause my manager does & I work at coffee shop."