Wrought iron collar with a three inch locking device and a three inch key. The collar is made up of two pieces of iron attached with a hinged, chain link back. Each end of the collar has an eyelet that can overlap and the lock can be inserted in to. The…
Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and CultureCatalog 2011.155.285abc
A wrought iron cooking pot hook. The artifact has a large hook on one end with a smaller hook facing the opposite direction on the other end. The hook has nine holes along its length. The artifact has a pitted surface with spots of corrosion.
Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and CultureCatalog 2017.39.1
A wrought iron cooking pot hook. The artifact has eight holes along its length and a large hook on one end. The other end is bent and flattened with a hole at the end. Another hooked piece of metal runs through this hole allowing the pot hook’s length to…
Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and CultureCatalog 2017.39.2
Iron key ring, possibly belonging to an overseer, excavated from a plantation in North Carolina. The keys are on an iron circle with 3 small keys and 2 large keys. The keys have a circular ring on top to attach to the key holder. Each key has one or two…
Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and CultureCatalog 2018.105.3
Iron shackles or handcuffs that are locked together. The shackles are composed of two iron circles each with a flat top for opening and closing the cuffs. The metal has rusted together so they can no longer be opened. The bottom of the circle has a half…
Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and CultureCatalog 2018.105.2
Solid Civil War iron shot ball made into shackle. Surrounding the circular shot ball is an outer layer of iron with lines cut throughout to help it fit tight around the shot, completely covering the back of the shot ball. The outer layer continues past the…
Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and CultureCatalog 2018.105.1
Isaac Harold Anderson (1834 – 1906) was a slave owned by his father who became a wealthy businessman, grocer, politician, publisher, and religious leader in the African American community in the U.S. state of Georgia. He was born in Fort Valley, Georgia.…
Isaac Jenkins (1846–1911) was an American politician who served in the Florida House of Representatives in the 1880s. Jenkins was born on August 10, 1846, in Leon County, Florida. An African American born into slavery, Leon lived on the farm of his owner,…
Isaac M. Burgan was born a slave October 6, 1848 in McDowell County, North Carolina near Marion to a slave, Sylva Burgan. Held in slavery until the end of the American Civil War (1861-1865), Burgan first learned to read from reviewing the homework of white…
Isaac D. Shadd (1829 – March 15, 1896) was a newspaper publisher, printer, politician, and bookkeeper. Before the American Civil War, he and his sister Mary Ann Shadd moved to Chatham, Ontario, and published the anti-slavery newspaper, The Provincial…
Isabella Gibbons (c. 1836 – February 4, 1890) was an enslaved woman serving as a cook at the University of Virginia, in Charlottesville, Virginia. After she was freed in 1865 she became a teacher.
Alfred Islay Walden (1847–1884) was an American poet, teacher, and minister. He was born in Randolph County, North Carolina and enslaved. He was freed after the American Civil War and studied at Howard University with the intent to become a teacher.
A powder horn with scrimshaw decorations. The powder horn shaft is made from cow horn. On one side of the horn's base, there is an engraved illustration of a seated African American officer smoking a cigar inside a tent, guarded by a white soldier in a…
Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and CultureCatalog 2015.247.3
J. H. Johnson was a state legislator in Mississippi. He represented DeSoto County, Mississippi in the Mississippi House of Representatives 1872–1875. He was an abolitionist from Ohio who assisted people in their escape from slavery. He served as a trustee…
John Sella Martin (September 27, 1832 – August 11, 1876) escaped slavery in Alabama and became an influential abolitionist and pastor in Boston, Massachusetts. He was an activist for equality before the American Civil War and travelled to Britain to…
Joseph Vance Lewis (December 25, 1853? – April 24, 1925), was an enslaved American who was freed through emancipation and who came "out of the ditch" to become a lawyer and was admitted to the US Supreme Court. Lewis wrote an autobiographical narrative…
