Freedom! A Promise Disrupted
Exhibit depicts the struggle newly freed African Americans faced in the post-Civil War and Reconstruction Era of North Carolina.
African Americans in North Carolina during Reconstruction, 1862-1901.
Created by staff at the NC Museum of History in 2019, the exhibit depicts the struggle newly freed African Americans faced in the post-Civil War and Reconstruction Era of North Carolina. The exhibit allows visitors to step through time and view how the Civil War and Reconstruction affected North Carolina, highlighting African Americans’ flight to freedom and their involvement in the Civil War.
“North Carolina suffered under slavery for two hundred years until the 13th Amendment was ratified in 1865,” said Earl L. Ijames, curator of African American history at the Museum of History. “After the Civil War, formerly enslaved people formed families, and established churches, educational institutions and communities for the first time in history, only to see racism and segregation reverse those gains by the turn of the twentieth century.”
Following the Civil War, African American citizens pushed for radical reconstruction that would guarantee them more rights and protections under the law. This was followed by heavy and violent White backlash. “After the Civil War, African Americans in North Carolina helped to rebuild the nation on a new foundation, one that for a brief moment hoped to fulfill to the promise of liberty for all,” said Susanna Lee, exhibit curator and Associate Professor at North Carolina State University. The exhibit combines text, photographs, artwork, and artifacts.
The exhibit “Freedom! A Promise Disrupted: North Carolina, 1862-1901” will be hosted by the Western Office of the NC Department of Cultural Resources in Asheville through March 2022. The exhibit is open from 10 a.m to 2 p.m., Wednesday through Saturday. Admission is free.
The Western Office of the NC Department of Natural and Cultural Resources is located near the intersection of the Blue Ridge Parkway and Tunnel Road, right next to the Charles George Veterans Affairs Medical Center, at 176 Riceville Road in Asheville.
For additional information about the exhibition, please visit www.ncdcr.gov/about/history/western-office.
