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In the spring of 1867, Richmond was a city filled with tension and a fight between African Americans and city policemen, who were described as former Confederates, broke out on the afternoon of May 11. United States Army troops dispersed the crowds,…

Henry Brown, an enslaved man who worked in a tobacco factory and who watched as his wife and children were sold at auction, escaped north by shipping himself in a wooden crate measuring 3 feet long by 2 feet wide and 2 feet deep.

Thomas Clarkson was a dedicated abolitionist whose publications on the slave trade helped to raise awareness of the horrors of slavery and the Middle Passage. In his description of this image, Clarkson explained that he purchased these items in a…

Respite of Virginia Christian granted on June 12, 1912, by Governor William Mann, delaying execution until July 19, 1912. Mann granted Christian a respite to enable her attorneys to file an amended petition for a writ of error. The Virginia Supreme…