A large wooden sieve made with a bentwood frame and wire mesh screen. The sieve is constructed from two (2), thin pieces of wood bent around into a two-tier circular frame and held in place with five (5) round head screws and metal staples. The mesh is…
Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and CultureCatalog 2017.108.23.35
Bethany Veney (March 19, 1812 – November 16, 1915), was an American writer whose autobiography and slave narrative, Aunt Betty's Story: The Narrative of Bethany Veney, A Slave Woman, was published in 1889. Born into slavery on a farm near Luray, Virginia,…
Betsey Stockton (c. 1798 – 1865), sometimes spelled Betsy Stockton, was an American educator and missionary. In her early life, she was an enslaved person, but was emancipated and became a Christian missionary in Hawaii.
Dr. Bettina L. Love is an American author and academic. She is the William F. Russell Professor at Teachers College, Columbia University, where she has been instrumental in establishing abolitionist teaching in schools.
Betty (c. 1738 – 1795) was a biracial woman who was enslaved by John Custis, and then by his son, Daniel Parke Custis, on the family's plantation in White House, Virginia. Daniel Parke Custis became the first husband of Martha Washington and was the father…
Elizabeth Hemings (c. 1735 – 1807) was an enslaved woman of mixed ethnicity in colonial Virginia. With her enslaver, planter John Wayles, it is claimed she had six children, including Sally Hemings.
An oral history interview with author and Black feminist scholar Dr. Beverly Guy-Sheftall. It consists of three versions of digital video recording, two camera card files (2025.12.13.1.1 and 2025.12.13.1.2, .mxf files) and one edited file (2025.12.13.1.3,…
Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and CultureCatalog 2025.12.13.1
Beverly Jenkins (born 1951, Detroit) is an American author of historical and contemporary romance novels with a particular focus on 19th-century African American life. She was a 2013 NAACP Image Award nominee and, in 1999, was voted one of the Top 50…
A small Bible, missing its front and back cover. It has lost pages at the beginning and end of the text, losing the entirety of Genesis and parts of Leviticus and Revelation. The first page contains Leviticus 4:32 through Leviticus 6:2.
Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and CultureCatalog 2011.28
A bill of sale for Peter, a seven-year old enslaved boy identified as a servant. The child was sold by Martha Avery of Gilmanton, New Hampshire to Luther Smith of Plainfield, Connecticut. Avery states that she purchased Peter from "Sollon Avery of Norwich"…
Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and CultureCatalog 2017.38
A handwritten bill of sale written in black ink detailing the sale of an enslaved girl named Sarah for $615.00 to Robert Watson in Columbus, Georgia. The document was written by a seller with the last name Pomroy whose first name is illegible. The front of…
Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and CultureCatalog 2012.158.20
An official copy receipt bill of sale for transferred ownership of "one Negro girl named Polly aged about sixteen years, yellow complexion and black eyes," from Martin Bridgeman to William H. Mood, both of Jackson County, Territory of Arkansas, for the sum…
Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and CultureCatalog 2009.47.1
A single page document consisting of a pre-printed form for a bill of sale in the state of South Carolina with handwritten details in black ink for seventeen (17) year old Mary from Gerd and Ann Riecke to Charles Seignious for the sum of $625.00 on…
Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and CultureCatalog 2012.158.8
A handwritten bill of sale for a 23-year-old woman named Rachel to Robert Watson from A. Calhoun for the sum of $625, dated April 2,1836. The bill is written in brown ink on a half sheet of off-white paper. At top left is [Georgia / Muscogee County]. The…
Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and CultureCatalog 2012.158.22
A bill of sale for a 42-year-old "negro man named Isaac." Isaac was sold by William A. Lane to John Rouzee. The signature of Lane appears in the bottom right corner next to the word "seal," which is circled in ink. The signature of a witness, Daniel…
Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and CultureCatalog 2011.104.1
This bill of sale details the sale of "a negro boy named Hall" from William Carden to Jerome B. Annis. The sale is handwritten on a torn piece of paper. The bottom edge of the page is jagged from tearing. The paper has a blueish tint, is lined and was…
Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and CultureCatalog 2017.27.1
A bill of sale of an enslaved girl named Clary to Robert S. Jardine for the price of fifty pounds. The document is written on yellowed paper in brown colored ink. The document is severely creased and has several areas of loss at center along the creases.…
Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and CultureCatalog 2010.1.117ab
This bill of sale details the sale of an enslaved man named Daniel from Thomas May to Jerome B. Annis. The paper was previously tri-folded leaving deep creases across the page. On the back of the paper the words [Bill of sale / for slave named / Daniel /…
Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and CultureCatalog 2017.27.2
A bill of sale for the enslaved woman Laurett and her child Anne for $525 from the estate of John J. Lafar to Henry Baker in Charleston, South Carolina in 1845. The document is a pre-printed bill of sale form for the state of South Carolina that has been…
Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and CultureCatalog 2012.158.3
A bill of sale regarding an enslaved man named Jack. The document is handwritten in brown ink on a single sheet of off-white paper and records the sale of Jack by Thomas Seymour, mayor of Hartford, Connecticut to his son, Henry Seymour of New York, New…
Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and CultureCatalog 2023.45.2
A bill of sale for an enslaved woman named Nancy written at Witmarsh Plantation in the Colleton District of South Carolina by Mary Witsell in February 1844. It is a single page document handwritten in brown ink on linked paper. The price for Nancy is given…
Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and CultureCatalog 2012.158.16
A preprinted bill of sale with handwritten text for an enslaved woman named Rosner in DeSoto Parish, Louisiana. The single page document is folded to create four pages. The document records that Rosner, a woman about 49 to 50 years of age, was sold by…
Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and CultureCatalog 2018.43.3
A bill of sale for "a negroe woman called Charlotte with her child, also a negroe girl called Kate." Charlotte and Kate were sold by Muscore G. Hunbery to John Rouzee for one hundred and eighty five (185) pounds. The document is signed by Hunbery at the…
Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and CultureCatalog 2011.104.4
A bill of sale for [a lass named Chloe]. Chloe was sold by Z.B. Oakes to Elias N. Ball on October 25, 1862 for thirteen hundred dollars. The bill of sale is [Printed and sold by Walker, Evans & Co., Charleston, S.C.] as stated in the top right corner. The…
Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and CultureCatalog 2017.41
