1850-1877

(left) This portrait of Elizabeth Keckley, a businesswoman and philanthropist, was featured in her autobiography, Behind the Scenes, or, Thirty Years a Slave, and Four Years in the White House.
Courtesy National Portrait Gallery, Smithsonian Institution
(right) This quilt was made in 1863 by Susannah Pullen of Augusta, Maine, and her Sunday school class following U.S. Sanitary Commission guidelines for bedding for the Union Army in the Civil War.
Gift of Mrs. Charlotte Pullen Scruton

Civil War and Reconstruction

How did the course and character of the Civil War impact the way Americans participated in philanthropy?

How did philanthropy affect the successes and failures of reconstruction after the end of the Civil War?

This quilt was made in 1863 by Susannah Pullen of Augusta, Maine, and her Sunday school class & portrait of Elizabeth Keckley

How do the arts promote social change?

By NMAH, June 4, 2018
A yellowed page with black text announcing the "Grand Concert in aid of the Russian Jewish Refugees"

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Printed portrait of Elizabeth Keckly included in her autobiography "Behind the Scenes"

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