Religion

One hallmark of the American experience captured in the Museum's collections is the nation's broad diversity of religious faiths. Artifacts range from Thomas Jefferson's Bible to a huge "Sunstone" sculpture carved for a Mormon temple in Illinois in 1844 to a household shrine from the home of a Pueblo Indian in the 1990s. Furniture, musical instruments, clothing, cooking ware, and thousands of prints and figures in the collections have all played roles in the religious lives of Americans. The most comprehensive collections include artifacts from Jewish and Christian European Americans, Catholic Latinos, Protestant Arab Americans, Buddhist and Christian Asian Pacific Americans, and Protestant African Americans. One notable group is the Vidal Collection of carved figures known as santos and other folk religious material from the practice of Santeria in Puerto Rico.

Currently not on view
Location
Currently not on view
Date made
1874
graphic artist
Harper & Brothers
ID Number
1985.0303.03
accession number
1985.0303
catalog number
1985.0303.03
Currently not on view
Location
Currently not on view
Date made
1874
date made
June 27, 1874
graphic artist
Harper & Brothers
ID Number
1985.0303.01
accession number
1985.0303
catalog number
1985.0303.01
This much-used bible belonged to Delaware farmer Stokely Sturgis, who converted to the growing Methodist movement through the influence of an enslaved man named Richard Allen. Moved by Methodism’s indictment of slaveholding, Sturgis agreed to sell Allen his freedom.
Description
This much-used bible belonged to Delaware farmer Stokely Sturgis, who converted to the growing Methodist movement through the influence of an enslaved man named Richard Allen. Moved by Methodism’s indictment of slaveholding, Sturgis agreed to sell Allen his freedom. Allen became a preacher and moved to Philadelphia. He founded the Bethel African Methodist Episcopal Church there in 1794.
date made
18th century
ID Number
1989.0296.01
catalog number
1989.0296.01
accession number
1989.0296
Currently not on view
Location
Currently not on view
Date made
1874
graphic artist
Harper & Brothers
ID Number
1985.0303.04
accession number
1985.0303
catalog number
1985.0303.04
Currently not on view
Location
Currently not on view
Date made
ca 1900
maker
Rau, W. H.
ID Number
CL.306787.38B
catalog number
306787.38B
accession number
306787
Currently not on view
Location
Currently not on view
Date made
ca 1970
maker
Ad-Craft Products Co.
ID Number
CL.306787.50
accession number
306787
catalog number
306787.50
Currently not on view
Location
Currently not on view
Date made
ca 1900
referenced
Rau, William H.
maker
Rau, W. H.
ID Number
CL.306787.38A
catalog number
306787.38A
accession number
306787
Currently not on view
Location
Currently not on view
Date made
1970
ID Number
CL.298252.13
accession number
298252
catalog number
298252.13
collector/donor number
C.4.3
Harriet Powers, an African American farm woman of Clarke County, Georgia, made this quilt in about 1886. She exhibited it at the Athens Cotton Fair of 1886 where it captured the imagination of Jennie Smith, a young internationally-trained local artist.
Description
Harriet Powers, an African American farm woman of Clarke County, Georgia, made this quilt in about 1886. She exhibited it at the Athens Cotton Fair of 1886 where it captured the imagination of Jennie Smith, a young internationally-trained local artist. Of her discovery, Jennie later wrote: "I have spent my whole life in the South, and am perfectly familiar with thirty patterns of quilts, but I had never seen an original design, and never a living creature portrayed in patchwork, until the year 1886, when there was held in Athens, Georgia, a 'Cotton-Fair,' which was on a much larger scale than an ordinary county fair, as there was a 'Wild West' show, and Cotton Weddings; and a circus, all at the same time. There was a large accumulation farm products--the largest potatoes, tallest cotton stalk, biggest water-melon! Best display of pickles and preserves made by exhibitor! Best display of seeds &c and all the attractions usual to such occasions, and in one corner there hung a quilt-which 'captured my eye' and after much difficulty I found the owner, a negro woman, who lives in the country on a little farm whereon she and husband make a respectable living . . . . The scenes on the quilt were biblical and I was fascinated. I offered to buy it, but it was not for sale at any price."
Four years later, Mrs. Powers, at the urging of her husband because of hard times, offered to sell the quilt, but Miss Smith's "financial affairs were at a low ebb and I could not purchase." Later Jennie sent word that she would buy the quilt if Harriet still wanted to dispose of it. Harriet "arrived one afternoon in front of my door in an ox-cart with the precious burden in her lap encased in a clean flour sack, which was still further enveloped in a crocus sack. She offered it for ten dollars--but--I only had five to give." Harriet went out to consult her husband and reported that he said she had better take the five dollars.
Mrs. Powers regretfully turned over her precious creation, but only after explaining each of the eleven panels of the design, which Jennie Smith recorded. Briefly, the subjects are Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden, a continuance of Paradise with Eve and a son, Satan amidst the seven stars, Cain killing his brother Abel, Cain goes into the land of Nod to get a wife, Jacob's dream, the baptism of Christ, the crucifixion, Judas Iscariot and the thirty pieces of silver, the Last Supper, and the Holy Family.
In her narrative about the quilt, artist Jennie revealed why she was so taken with it: "Her style is bold and rather on the impressionists order while there is a naievete of expression that is delicious." In recent times, historians have compared Harriet's work to textiles of Dahomey, West Africa.
The Bible quilt is both hand- and machine-stitched. There is outline quilting around the motifs and random intersecting straight lines in open spaces. A one-inch border of straight-grain printed cotton is folded over the edges and machine-stitched through all layers.
Harriet Powers was born a slave near Athens, Georgia, on October 29, 1837. At a young age, she married Armstead Powers and they had at least nine children. Some time after the Civil War, they became landowners. Eventually, circumstances forced them to sell off part of the land but not their home. The date of Harriet's death, Jan. 1, 1910, was recently discovered on her gravestone in Athen's Gospel Pilgrim Cemetery.
Location
Currently not on view
date made
1885-1886
quilter
Powers, Harriet
ID Number
TE.T14713
catalog number
T14713
accession number
283472
Currently not on view
Location
Currently not on view
date made
1978-11
maker
Leipzig, Arthur
ID Number
2019.0272.0010
accession number
2019.0272
catalog number
2019.0272.0010
Currently not on view
Location
Currently not on view
date made
1984
maker
Zalesky, Roy Joseph
ID Number
2017.0306.0027
catalog number
2017.0306.0027
accession number
2017.0306
two black and white photographs mounted on black, perforated construction paper; recto- three elderly women standing side by side in profile but with faces turned and looking towards photographer, woman on left is wearing a black hat and a black and white coat with a belt tied ar
Description (Brief)
two black and white photographs mounted on black, perforated construction paper; recto- three elderly women standing side by side in profile but with faces turned and looking towards photographer, woman on left is wearing a black hat and a black and white coat with a belt tied around waist, woman in middle is wearing a dark coat and has a white kerchief with spotted pattern wrapped around hair and tied under chin, woman on right is wearing a light colored jacket, dark kerchief around her head and tied under her chin and is pointing towards photographer with her left hand; verso- young African American boy is peering over the top of a drinking water fountain with the spray on, right hand is gripping edge of bowl
Location
Currently not on view
date made
1968-1969
maker
Zalesky, Roy Joseph
ID Number
2017.0306.0151
accession number
2017.0306
catalog number
2017.0306.0151
The Mount Zion Missionary Baptist Church sprang up in rural areas across the South following the Civil War, providing a place of rest and community for freed slaves.
Description
The Mount Zion Missionary Baptist Church sprang up in rural areas across the South following the Civil War, providing a place of rest and community for freed slaves. Even if church services only occurred once or twice a month when a traveling minister visited, the house of worship provided not only a place to rekindle faith but as a school and meeting house for fraternal clubs. Homecomings came around harvest time, bringing visitors from across the country. Relatives and neighbors who had moved away came back to spend time with family, sharing stories of their lives in northern cities. The often-embellished picture of northern urban life painted at such reunions encouraged others to contemplate boarding trains north.
World War I brought a new era of industrial opportunity for African Americans, But as production demands grew, wartime recruitment took away traditionally white and immigrant factory workers. Northern labor recruiters, newspapers, and word-of-mouth spread news of higher wages and regular work being offered to African Americans willing to move. Desire for better treatment and better paying jobs brought hundreds of thousands of African Americans north.
Those left behind in the South found continued solace and fortitude in the Mount Zion Missionary Baptist Church, leading the way in continuing the fight for basic civil rights for all. Freedom songs sung in marches and jails spread to whites traveling from northern colleges to join in the struggle, spreading lyrics and ideas back north that have now become familiar to those visiting the National Mall and public squares across the country participating in democratic demonstrations of a range of popular issues.
maker
Mt. Zion Mission Baptist Church
ID Number
1986.0812.01
accession number
1986.0812
catalog number
1986.0812.01
Currently not on view
Location
Currently not on view
Date made
1874
graphic artist
Harper & Brothers
ID Number
1985.0303.02
catalog number
1985.0303.02
accession number
1985.0303
Bible owned by Nannie Helen Burroughs. Burroughs was an officer of the Women’s Convention, Auxiliary to the National Baptist Convention, for over forty years.Currently not on view
Description
Bible owned by Nannie Helen Burroughs. Burroughs was an officer of the Women’s Convention, Auxiliary to the National Baptist Convention, for over forty years.
Location
Currently not on view
associated person
Burroughs, Nannie Helen
ID Number
1978.0342.038
accession number
1978.0342
catalog number
1978.0342.38
This sheet music for the song "At a Georgia Camp Meeting," was written and composed by Kerry Mills and published by F.A. Mills in New York, New York in 1897.
Description
This sheet music for the song "At a Georgia Camp Meeting," was written and composed by Kerry Mills and published by F.A. Mills in New York, New York in 1897. The cover proclaims the song “a characteristic march which can be used effectively as a two-step, polka, or cake walk,” and shows images of blacks having a dignified party. The cake walk was often the last song at a dance and the best dancing couple was awarded a cake (the origin of the phrase “taking the cake”).
Location
Currently not on view
publishing date
1897
composer
Mills, Kerry
user
Woodside, Lura
publisher
F. A. Mills
ID Number
1979.1154.18
accession number
1979.1154
catalog number
1979.1154.18
Currently not on view
Location
Currently not on view
designer
Easter, Dana
maker
Easter, Dana
ID Number
2003.0290.07.04
accession number
2003.0290
catalog number
2003.0290.07.04
Currently not on view
Location
Currently not on view
date made
ca 1960-1991
maker
House of Prayer
ID Number
2005.0100.073
catalog number
2005.0100.073
accession number
2005.0100
The funeral procession to Jerry Brown's burial at St. John Cemetery, Oliver, Georgia, October 23, 1976.Currently not on view
Description (Brief)
The funeral procession to Jerry Brown's burial at St. John Cemetery, Oliver, Georgia, October 23, 1976.
Location
Currently not on view
date made
1976-10
maker
Walker, Diana
ID Number
2003.0250.119
accession number
2003.0250
catalog number
2003.0250.119
Family and friends of Jerry Brown departing, St. John Baptist Church, Oliver, Georgia, October, 1976.Currently not on view
Description (Brief)
Family and friends of Jerry Brown departing, St. John Baptist Church, Oliver, Georgia, October, 1976.
Location
Currently not on view
date made
1976-10
maker
Walker, Diana
ID Number
2003.0250.120
accession number
2003.0250
catalog number
2003.0250.120
Currently not on view
Location
Currently not on view
designer
Easter, Dana
maker
Easter, Dana
ID Number
2003.0290.05.03
accession number
2003.0290
catalog number
2003.0290.05.03
Currently not on view
Location
Currently not on view
designer
Easter, Dana
maker
Easter, Dana
ID Number
2003.0290.02.04
accession number
2003.0290
catalog number
2003.0290.02.04
This educational card game consists of thirty-six plastic cards and a game guide or "Quiz Game" pamphlet in a two-piece cardboard box. The cards each have a black and white drawing of a notable individual and a brief biography contained on the back of each card.
Description
This educational card game consists of thirty-six plastic cards and a game guide or "Quiz Game" pamphlet in a two-piece cardboard box. The cards each have a black and white drawing of a notable individual and a brief biography contained on the back of each card. The guide claims that the card game was designed to enhance student learning and promote a broader awareness of the contributions of Black Americans throughout America's past.
The cards feature: Richard Allen, Marian Anderson, Crispus Attucks, James Baldwin, Benjamin Banneker, James Beckwourth, Mary McLeod Bethune, Edward William Brooke, Ralph Bunche, George Washington Carver, Shirley Chisholm, Paul Cuffe, Benjamin O. Davis Jr., Frederick Douglass, Dr. Charles Drew, W.E.B. DuBois, Paul Lawrence Dunbar, John Hope Franklin, Prince Hall, W.C. Handy, Matthew Henson, Langston Hughes, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., Lewis Latimer, Thurgood Marshall, Jan Matzeliger, Norbert Rillieux, Carl T. Rowan, Robert Smalls, Sojourner Truth, Harriet Tubman, Booker T. Washington, Robert C. Weaver, Phillis Wheatley, Daniel Hale Williams, Granville Woods.
This card set was produced by Edu-Cards, a division of Binney and Smith, Inc., known for Crayola Crayons. Edu-Cards were originally produced by the Ed-U-Cards Company and founded about 1946 in Long Island City, New York to produce flash cards in a variety of subjects for Baby Boomers. In addition to math and reading, cards were produced for subjects like geography (states), music, science like chemistry, animals, spotter cards of plants, sea shells, and trees, and biographies of famous people. Licensed character cards were produced into lotto and matching games. The company was bought out by Binney and Smith in 1959 and the spelling of the product name was changed to Edu-Cards by 1963 though the packaging took a few years to change on all products. Binney and Smith is owned by Hallmark.
Location
Currently not on view
depicted
Attucks, Crispus
Baldwin, James
Banneker, Benjamin
Bunche, Ralph Johnson
Carver, George Washington
Chisholm, Shirley
Douglass, Frederick
Franklin, John Hope
Hall, Prince
Handy, W. C.
Hughes, Langston
King, Jr., Martin Luther
Latimer, Lewis H.
Marshall, Thurgood
Truth, Sojourner
Tubman, Harriet
Washington, Booker T.
Anderson, Marian
maker
Binney and Smith Incorporated
ID Number
1998.0068.186
accession number
1998.0068
catalog number
1998.0068.186
Currently not on view
Location
Currently not on view
date made
1965-03
maker
Davidson, Bruce
ID Number
2006.0100.03
catalog number
2006.0100.03
accession number
2006.0100

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