A Ride for Liberty
In 1862, American painter Eastman Johnson (1824-1906) made trips to Union encampments to witness and sketch the war's events. Throughout the war, African-American men, women, and children escaped slavery by fleeing to Union encampments. Union [...]
Item Type: Painting
Historical Era: Civil War and Reconstruction (1861-1877)
A Plantation Burial
Funerals were sad occasions in the slave quarters, but they gave African Americans a chance to confirm their community identity. They were often held at night, so that friends and family members from neighboring farms could attend.
Item Type: Painting
Historical Era: Antebellum America (1816-1860)
Slaves Waiting for Sale, Richmond, Virginia, 1861
During the 1850s, hundreds of thousands of enslaved African Americans were sold by owners in the upper South (Virginia, North Carolina, Kentucky, West Virginia, Tennessee) to owners in the lower South (Louisiana, South Carolina, Georgia, Alabama, [...]