Credit: Architect of the Capitol Media type: fresco Museum Number: Annotation: Capitol fresco Year: 1865

Credit: Architect of the Capitol Media type: fresco Museum Number: Annotation: Capitol fresco Year: 1865

Credit: Architect of the Capitol Media type: fresco Museum Number: Annotation: Capitol fresco Year: 1865

Credit: Architect of the Capitol Media type: fresco Museum Number: Annotation: Capitol fresco Year: 1865

Credit: Architect of the Capitol Media type: fresco Museum Number: Annotation: Capitol fresco Year: 1865

Credit: Library of Congress Media type: engraving Museum Number: LC-USZ62-12764 Annotation: End of the Civil War Year: 1866

Credit: Library of Congress Media type: engraving Museum Number: LC-USZ62-28044 Annotation: An African American Majority in the South Carolina Legislature. Because blacks in South Carolina vastly outnumbered whites, the newly-enfranchised voters were able to send so many African American representatives to the state assembly that they outnumbered the whites. Many were able legislators who worked to rewrite the state…

Credit: Library of Congress Media type: engraving Museum Number: LC-USZ62-23098 Annotation: The 3rd United States Colored Infantry Regiment was the first regiment to be formed in 1863 in compliance with Abraham Lincoln’s executive order known as the Emancipation Proclamation which allowed African-Americans, including freed slaves, to join the Union army. Consisting of 11 regiments and two companies of infantry…

Credit: Library of Congress Media type: decorative arts Museum Number: LC-USZ62-23097 Annotation: This is a regimental flag depicting an African American soldier standing next to Columbia holding a flag. Painted flags were an important form of popular art in the 19th century, and were used both for ceremonial and decorative purposes. David Bustill Bowser (1820-1900), a poor African-American from…

Credit: Media type: miscellaneous-image Museum Number: NWCTB-11-PRDOCPI159E23-PROC95 Annotation: This is an image of the first page of the Emancipation Proclamation, the executive order issued by President Abraham Lincoln in 1863, declaring the freedom of all slaves held in areas of the United States still controlled by the Confederacy that had not yet been returned to union control and…