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Wilson Chinn, a sixty year old former slave was branded on the forehead 160. Wilson Chinn, a sixty year old former slave was brandedon the forehead with his owner's initials, 'V. B. M.' Chinn is wearing a contraption and irons designed to prevent slave escapes. At lower left is a slave paddle. Ca. 1864. Wilson Chinn (fl. 1863) was an escaped American slave who became known as the subject of photographs documenting the extensive use of torture received in slavery. The "branded slave" photograph of Chinn, a former slave from Louisiana, with the initials of his owner branded on his forehead, Volsey B. Marmillion, wearing a punishment collar and posing with other equipment used to punish slaves, became one of the most widely circulated photos of the abolitionist movement during the American Civil War and remains one of the most famous photos of that era. The New York Times writer Joan Paulson Gage, noted, "The images of Wilson Chinn in chains, like the one of Gor...