Robert, Calvin, Martha and William Scott and Mila

This painting depicts the children of Reverend William Anderson Scott (1813–1885), a Presbyterian minister in New Orleans from 1842 to 1854. The spire of the First Presbyterian Church where Dr. Scott was pastor is visible at the center of the city's skyline. Scott family papers suggest that the African American woman at the right is Mila, who was enslaved by the family.

The portrayal of Mila is, by standards of the period, a realistic and sympathetic rendering of an African American subject. However, her status in the household is emphasized by her kneeling and by the inclusion of a slave cabin behind her. In the 1840s, the legality and morality of slavery were being challenged in the North and defended in the South. This group portrait may reflect Reverend Scott's attempt to portray both his family and slavery in a positive light. Dr. Scott later moved his family to San Francisco, where Unionists, protesting his support of the Confederacy, publicly burned his likeness.