The Slave Trade Exhibit

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Exhibition Dates: September 1, 2010 – December 31, 2010

In the history of the United States, no issue has been more contentious, politically, economically, or morally, than that of slavery, the outright ownership of human beings. It was a controversial institution in the nation from the 1770s to the 1860s and one of the principal issues leading to the American Civil War. The Karpeles Museum will display original documents, illustrations, and memorabilia relating to the slave trade, the efforts at its suppression, and its historical consequences, from before the American Revolution to modern times.

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Including in this exhibition will be hand-forged iron wrist and leg shackles intended for African slaves; documents of the Pennsylvania Society for Promoting the Abolition of Slavery, issued in 1794; material from 1818 on the American  Colonization Society and its efforts at establishing a colony in Africa for freed slaves; records of the “Amistad Case” referring to the revolt on the slave-ship Amistad in 1839; a document signed by Brigham Young in 1852 establishing the rules regulating slavery among the Mormons in Utah; a sample of the original manuscript of Harriet Beecher Stowe’s influential 1852 novel Uncle Tom’s Cabin; an original copy of the Emancipation Proclamation, Abraham Lincoln’s 1862 executive order bringing about the end of slavery in the United States; the 1874 muster roll for the 9th U.S. Cavalry “Buffalo Soldiers,” the all-black U.S. Army regiment, containing the signatures of the first African-American Medal of Honor winners; the document appointing Frederic Douglass minister to Haiti in 1888; Martin Luther King’s own copy of his legendary “We Shall overcome” speech of 1865; a manuscript page from Alex Haley’s 1976 Roots, and much more.

Museum Hours: Thu.-Sat., 10 a.m. to 4 p.m., and Sunday, 12 to 4 p.m.
Admission is always free.
Visit website: www.karpeles.com