Description:

Poster: Southern Reconstruction .

Top left picture
In 1867, black people in Washington, DC voted under the supervision of black and white clerks. The ballot was given to the black people to protect their rights.

Top right picture
Congressman Robert Brown Elliott, an ex-slave educated in Scotland, called for the passage of the 1875 Civil Rights Law. It passed but was declared unconstitutional in 1883.

Bottom left picture
Carl Schurz, a German immigrant who became a famous American political leader, championed the abolitionist cause and was an early supporter for the rights of black people.

Bottom middle picture
Representative Jeremiah Haralson of Alabama was one of twenty two black people elected to Congress between 1870 and 1898. In 1875. He asked for more schools for Negroes and whites and suggested federal aid to education as a means of financing their construction.

Bottom right picture
As they played together, black and white children found it easier to break racial barriers than their parents.

Contributed by John Judkyn Memorial.

The language used to describe people of African descent in the 18th, 19th and 20th centuries is unacceptable in today’s terms. We cannot avoid using this language in its original context. To change the words would impose 20th century attitudes on history.

Date: c1860s - 1890s

Copyright: The American Museum in Britain, Bath

Object ID:74.179.7