Browse Items (112 total)
Robert Dinwiddie Bookplate, circa 1750s
A bookplate is a small-sized, decorative label that is adhered to the inside front cover of a book. They are used to identify the owner of a book for personal use or for use in a library. Bookplates are designed to reflect a person’s interests or to…
Susan Strange Diary Entry, Thalhimers Protest, Richmond, 1960
On February 1, 1960 the “Greensboro Four” sat down at the Woolworth’s lunch counter in Greensboro, North Carolina. By February 5th, hundreds of students had joined the movement to integrate the lunch counters. By the end of March, the movement had…
Jerry Armstrong, Registration of Free Status, 1840
Before the end of slavery, free Black Virginians found their liberty in constant jeopardy because they were not considered citizens. After Gabriel's attempted slave rebellion in 1800, the General Assembly passed an act in 1801 requiring county…
Citizenship Through Voting, Portsmouth, VA, circa 1950’s
Black men gained the right to vote when the Fifteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution was ratified in 1870. Later in the 19th century, white men in Virginia passed laws requiring literacy tests or payment of poll taxes that made it more…
Attendance Records of the state Constitutional Convention, 1867–1868
Black men in Virginia voted for the first time in October 1867, when they participated in the election on whether to hold a convention to rewrite the state's constitution as required by Congress after the Civil War. They also voted for delegates to…
George Washington Bookplate, 18th Century
A bookplate is a small-sized, decorative label that is adhered to the inside front cover of a book. They are used to identify the owner of a book for personal use or for use in a library. Bookplates are designed to reflect a person’s interests or to…
War Gardens Victorious, World War I Poster, 1919
As Americans prepared to send soldiers overseas during the First World War, the government reorganized the economy to better supply and equip its troops. Peacetime industries shifted towards producing needed military goods (like uniforms and…
“An Economical Woman” Issued by The New York State Association Opposed to Women's Suffrage, 1909
The New York State Association Opposed to Woman Suffrage (NYSAOWS) was one of the most active anti-suffrage groups in the state of New York. There were several auxiliaries of the group throughout New York. NYSAOWS would receive requests for…
Lucy Jarvis Pearman Scott, Freedom Paper, 1848
In 1801, following Gabriel's failed slave rebellion, the Virginia General Assembly decreed that county commissioners of the revenue were to return a complete list of all free Black men and women in their districts on an annual basis. The list was to…
The Age of Iron, Broadside Satirizing Women's Suffrage Movement, 1869
“The Age of Iron” was published by the New York printing firm of Currier and Ives in 1869. It satirized the woman suffrage movement that was gaining widespread support in America during that time.The woman suffrage movement took root in 1848 at the…