Hello Edward, I believe your are referring to the former slave Gordon when you made the statement "Something that is never addressed with these "whipping photograph" (and as I remember I only know of seeing the same photograph in every book) is WHY this particular person was whiped in the first place. The circumstance under which he was whipped is left to one imagination."

Gordon made his way to Union lines at Baton Rouge, Louisiana in 1863. His scared back even made the front page of Harper's Weekly newspaper. His photograph is often shown on television to this day when the topic of slavery is mentioned. It helped to re-stir the emotions of "Uncle Tom's Cabin" after appearing in Harper's Weekly. While we do not know why Gordon was whipped so badly some histories mention the overseer was fired over the beating of Gordon. Slavery was as some would say a peculiar institution.