Browse Items (217 total)
Equal Suffrage Address, Norfolk, 1865
Even before the end of the Civil War, newly freed Black people called on the government to grant them equal suffrage (the right to vote). A committee of Black residents in Norfolk made this demand in June 1865, shortly after the war ended. Norfolk’s…
Edmund Bradford Seeks a Pardon, 1865
The power of the president to pardon those who commit offenses against the United States is enumerated in the Article Two of the U. S. Constitution. A presidential pardon is an executive order granting clemency for a conviction of a crime, with the…
Drawing of Shellfield, Westmoreland Co., Edward A. Darby, 1932-37
In the 1930s, the Virginia State Commission on Conservation and Development’s Division of History and Archaeology received funds from the Works Progress Administration’s (later known as the Work Projects Administration) Federal Art Project to…
Don't Go Back and Backward with Republicans, Broadside, 1936
In 1932, Franklin D. Roosevelt won the presidential election, making him the first Democratic president in twelve years. As President, Roosevelt took quick action through his New Deal initiative to provide relief for struggling Americans through a…
Distribution of Virginia's Slave Population, Map, 1861
Using the data from the 1860 census, this map was created in 1861. It shows the distribution of enslaved Virginians in each of the state's counties, with the darker shades showing the counties with the highest percentage of enslaved men, women, and…
Diploma from Tobacco Exposition, 1888
Tobacco production has dominated Virginia commerce for more than four centuries. From the colonial period, producers created brands that made their products distinguishable from others. Early tobacco art usually took the form of the planters' brand…
Declaration of Independence, 1776
The Revolutionary War erupted with battles at Lexington and Concord and at Bunker Hill in 1775, but throughout the following year many colonists continued to believe reconciliation with Great Britain was possible. Some members of the Continental…
Cuban Missile Crisis—Strategic Consideration, October 1962
The Cuban Missile Crisis occurred during John F. Kennedy’s presidency. In October 1962 a United States spy plane captured evidence that the Soviet Union was moving nuclear missiles into Cuba. Located just 90 miles off the coast of Florida, Cuba had…
Copy of the Fifteenth Amendment Sent to North Carolina Legislature, 1869
After the Civil War ended and slavery was abolished in 1865, Radical Republicans in Congress became frustrated with the opposition that many white southerners exhibited to extending full rights of citizenship to African Americans. Congress proposed…
Confederate Parole Pass, 1865
On April 9, 1865, Confederate General Robert E. Lee surrendered the Army of Northern Virginia to General Ulysses S. Grant at Appomattox Court House. The surrender effectively ended the American Civil War in Virginia, although fighting continued in…