Painted during Reconstruction, this sentimental watercolor depicts the hope of transformation and possibility
Art of the United States: 1800 – 1900
What does this marble sculpture of Cleopatra tell us about race and the Civil War in the U.S.?
William Wetmore Story, Cleopatra
Hassam’s incorporates French Impressionist techniques into a fully American urban scene, while foreshadowing the social progress to come
Childe Hassam, Snowstorm, Madison Square
Enslaved artist David Drake inscribed a poem onto this jug at a time when literacy among enslaved people was outlawed
David Drake, Double-handled jug
Is this painting of five men, possibly formerly enslaved, working for the Union Army during the Civil War a product of racist stereotypes, or does it humanize its subjects?
Winslow Homer, Army Teamsters
In the 1860s Carleton Watkins loaded a team of mules with his mammoth-plate camera and glass negatives and ventured into Yosemite Valley.
Peaks and perils: The life of Carleton ...
How Chicago architecture sprung up thanks to new technology at the turn of the century
Burnham and Root, Reliance Building
This plaque is the only marker of the burial ground of people who died while enslaved by the University of Alabama and its faculty.
Slave Burial Ground, University of Alabama
A conversation that took place on Monument Avenue in Richmond, Virginia, July, 2021
Monument Avenue and the Lost Cause
Dedicated in 1890; removed in 2021
Defeated, heroized, dismantled: Richmond’s Robert E. Lee ...
Discover how this painting came to be recognized as one of America’s greatest paintings with Timothy Rub, Director of the Philadelphia Museum of Art.
The Gross Clinic with Timothy Rub
The University of Alabama, Civil War, and slavery; examining the role of architecture as historical marker
Little Round House
Home wrote that the sharpshooter's role was "as near to murder as anything I can think of."
The U.S. Civil War, sharpshooters and Winslow ...
A critic accused Whistler of “flinging paint at the public” when he saw this painting, so Whistler sued him.
Whistler, Nocturne in Black and Gold: The ...
Although their secretive nature precludes an accurate count of their numbers, historians estimate that about a million people belonged to nativist societies in the 1850s.
Nativism, immigration, and the Know-Nothing party
Understanding political cartoons in the wake of the Civil War.
Nast & Reconstruction, understanding a political cartoon
The natural world and political metaphor, Church's Cotopaxi
Science, religion, and politics, Church’s Cotopaxi
Tulips, roses, carnations, irises, and hydrangea form this sort of dense garden that weaves in and out of the paisley shapes.
Shawl from Deneirouse and Boisglavy
A miracle on Bleecker Street, ornament, invention, and one of the great early skyscrapers
Soaring upward, Louis Sullivan and the invention ...
At the Alamo, the representation of patriotic heroism and brave sacrifice eclipses Spain’s earlier colonial presence and the history of the site’s ruination, reconstruction, and reframing.
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