Browse Items (16 total)
- Collection: Civil War and Reconstruction
Fields Cook
Born into slavery, Fields Cook became a prominent African American leader in Richmond and Alexandria in the aftermath of the Civil War.
Richmond and Alexandria
Lucy Goode Brooks
Born enslaved, Lucy Goode Brooks founded the Friends' Asylum for Colored Orphans in Richmond.
Richmond
William Breedlove
A free African American before the Civil War, William Breedlove won election in 1867 to a convention called to rewrite Virginia's state constitution.
Essex
Elizabeth Van Lew
Elizabeth Van Lew oversaw an effective and significant Union spy network during the Civil War.
Richmond
Sally Louisa Tompkins
Appointed a captain in the Confederate army, Sally Tompkins managed a hospital in Richmond during the Civil War.
Richmond
Elizabeth Hobbs Keckly
Seamstress Elizabeth Keckly bought her freedom and later served as dressmaker for Mary Todd Lincoln at the White House.
Dinwiddie County