Print shows a bird's-eye view of the Andersonville Prison, with prisoner's tents, gallows for executions, and a stream for washing, surrounded by three rows of stockade fences and with artillery batteries of cannons at the corners; includes numbered…
Masked Ku Klux Klan member riding in car, holding noose outside window during a parade through an African American neighborhood of Miami on the night before a primary election.
Francis Clalin, disguised as a man, served in the 44th Regiment, Missouri Artillery, Company I for 3 months and in the 13th Missouri Cavalry, Company A, for 19 months.
An 1868 illustration evoking the difficulties faced by the Freedmen's Bureau, the agency responsible for transforming Southern society, in the face of white opposition, to accommodate freed slaves.
After the war ended, the thousands of African American freedmen who fought for both the North or the South had trouble finding support for equal rights.
This additional cartoon from Harper’s Weekly from 1868 slams Johnson by referring to him as a ‘paroquet’ stuck on repeating ‘Constitution’ over and over and over again. The reluctance to work with Reconstructionists by inciting the…
This cartoon from Harper’s Weekly from 1868 illustrates the Northern contempt for Johnson and his reluctance to embrace the Republican goals of Reconstruction after the bloodiest conflict in American history.
The Fugitive Slave Act of 1850 was oil on the fires of the anti-slavery movement. On June 5, 1851, the first installment of Uncle Tom’s Cabin appeared in the Washington anti-slavery paper, The National Era. At first there appeared to be little…
The Songbook showcases the early depiction of a minstrel show character, Jim Crow. It wasn't until the late 1800s that the expression "Jim Crow" was used to describe the laws and customs aimed at segregating society, restricting social contact and…
Field hospital at Savage Station, Virginia. This was taken in 1862, and shows how disorganized early hospitals were. We can see how easy it was for disease to spread.
This is a cartoon that represents the emotions the public felt after the failed attempt to impeach President Andrew Johnson. President Johnson is compared to an old rotting horse whose foul stench exudes the Radical Republicans failed attempt to…
This photograph depicts an early KKK of 1870, Division 289 from Watertown, New York. At this point of the KKK existence, members did not always hide their identity.
This is an article seen in the New York Times summarizing President Johnson's reasoning for dismissing Secretary of State Edwin M. Stanton. Within this article it chronicles President Johnson’s emotions and attitudes toward Stanton. It also…