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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.
Civil Rights Leaders March on Washington
This photograph shows some of the leaders of the March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom on August 28,1963. The group includes Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., front row, second from left and A. Philip Randolph, second from the right. King delivered [...]
"Street of Gamblers (By Day)"
This photo of Ross Alley shows the preponderance of male immigrants in San Francisco's Chinatown. While outsiders dubbed this a "bachelor society," many Chinese immigrants had left behind families in China. Arnold Genthe's original caption for this [...]
"Chinese Butcher and Grocer Shop, Chinatown, S.F."
In the late 1880s, when this photograph was taken by Isaiah West Taber, there were over 20,000 Chinese living in California. Many settled in San Francisco's Chinatown, where markets, temples, theaters, and restaurants supplied a thriving commercial [...]
18th-Century Runaway Slave Advertisements
These newspaper advertisements seeking runaway slaves offer interesting details about the individual lives of eighteenth-century slaves and their masters.
Runaway Slave Advertisement from Revolutionary Virginia
After Virginia's royal governor, Lord Dunmore, promised freedom to indentured servants and slaves who would escape and serve in the British forces, newspapers printed numerous advertisements for runaways whose owners suspected them of responding to [...]
"Consumer's Guide"
The Sears, Roebuck and Company catalog dates back to 1888, when Richard Sears first used a mailer to sell watches and jewelry. The U.S. Post Office provided a boon to the mail order business by allowing mail order publications to be classified as [...]
A Maryland Slave Runs Toward Freedom
Runaway slave advertisements offer a wealth of information about the movements and motivations of escaped slaves. This advertisement offers a reward for the capture and return of Sam MacKall, a Maryland slave who ran away from his master in Prince [...]
Runaway Slave Advertisement from Antebellum Virginia
In this handbill from 1854, a Virginia slaveowner advertises a large reward for the return of a 33 year-old enslaved man. Historians have noted the use of woodprint images, such as the one seen here, as evidence of the frequency of runaway [...]
A Freedman Seeks to Reunite His Family
After emancipation, many former slaves immediately searched for family members who had been sold away during slavery. They used whatever scant information they had and frequently placed advertisements like this in southern newspapers.