Emancipation Producer Criticized for Bringing Slave Photo That Inspired Film on Red Carpet

Producer Joey McFarland, who considers himself an “amateur historian and passionate curator of truth,” as he told The Hollywood Reporter at the film’s premiere on Wednesday, brought the original 1863 photograph to the premiere.

Known as “The Scourged Back,” the famous photograph depicts a man sitting facing away from the camera, with lash scars all up and down his back.

As for why he brought it, he was captured on video, McFarland told Variety it’s because “I wanted a piece of Peter to be here tonight.”

McFarland explained that he has been collecting photos of 19th Century African Americans. He said he intends to donate them “for educational purposes” after his death.

“They’ve been so poorly curated, preserved and protected. And so for the last couple of decades I have been seeking out and acquiring as many forgotten and lost photos as possible,” he told THR.

He said that of all the photos he’s collected, “The Scourged Back” is the one that has impacted him the most. He said that while many see it as an “emblem of slavery,” he saw it as a human being.

“So for me it was a deep dive,” he said of seeking out the man’s identity and story. “I hired a great deal of historians; we went deep into the archives and found his identity, we found his backstory, we pieced it together.”

Smith stars as the man in the photo, Peter, who escaped slavery and was hunted through Louisiana on a journey toward freedom. The photo first appeared in “Harper’s Weekly” and was taken during a Union Army medical examination.

McFarland sees “Emancipation” as more than just entertainment, but also as “a lesson.” He says, “It is a conversation that is needed, it needs to start and continue and keep growing and evolving. We just need to come together.”

“We need to reckon with the past so future generations don’t make the same mistake,” he continued.

Franklin Leonard, the founder of The Black List, took to Twitter after seeing McFarland with the original photograph to ask why he would bring it there (even in a plastic case) “if the intent is to preserve it respectfully?”

“You wanted ‘a piece of Peter’ here?” Leonard’s tweet continued. “You collect slave memorabilia that will be donated upon your death? What do you do with it in the meantime? So many questions.”

In a follow-up thread, he likened it to a superhero movie producer buying up a bunch of first edition comic books of said superhero, knowing that a successful film would dramatically increase their value. TooFab has reached out to McFarland’s representatives for comment.

April Reign, who created the #OscarsSoWhite hashtag, springboarded from McFarland’s thread, noting that McFarland had branded his photos #McFarlandCollection on Instagram.

He has shared several of the images to his Instagram page, detailing the story behind each of the photos. According to Reign, he started posting about them right after “Emancipation” wrapped filming.