Firsthand History

June 1 - July 31, 2010

National Archives Traveling Exhibit

 

Bill of sale for slave named George, 1833.

National Archives Southeast Region

The exhibit Firsthand History is comprised of twelve different panels assembled from the Southeast Region of the National Archives holdings. The National Archives in this region holds in trust original records documenting the settlement and development of this unique section of the United States. This exhibit tells intriguing stories of the people who once inhabited this land. Some documents are about famous people and events. Others chronicle the lives of everyday people-men and women who never imagined that at some future date someone would be interested in their lives.

 

World War I draft registration for Charles Hamilton Houston.

National Archives Southeast Region

The earliest records in the holdings of the Southeast Region are replete with evidence of pirates and preachers, presidents and prisoners, the powerful and the poor. They represent the interaction of the Federal government with the lives of a diverse cross section of Americans.

The exhibit includes images of the Civil War; it documents the illegal smuggling of people into slavery after the practice was outlawed by Congress in 1808. Thousands of people were enslaved and illegally imported into the United States because it was an enormously profitable business. It also includes information about the establishment of the military draft; images of the Tuskegee experiment which documented but failed to treat African American men diagnosed with syphilis; as well as images of women working in war industries.

Free and open to the public daily, June 1 to July 31, 2010, 9:00 am to 5:00 pm, at Brown v. Board of Education National Historic Site, 1515 SE Monroe Street, Topeka, Kansas, 66612.

For more information, call the Brown Foundation at [phone] or send an email by clicking here.