"Remaking Virginia: Transformation Through Emancipation" is now open in our lobby and main gallery. Learn how the process of emancipation unfolded in Virginia, and the aftermath.

Even as the Civil War was still being fought, the status of almost a half-million African Americans in Virginia began to change. No longer were they someone else's property-they were free. They anticipated the promise of change from their former status as slaves: the promises of education, political participation, and full citizenship. Yet, in their struggle to achieve these goals, freedmen and freedwomen faced the hostility of their former masters and the society that had long benefitted from their labor. Union troops and U.S. government officials reconstructing the Southern states were often indifferent. What challenges did African Americans face in their struggle to achieve what they believed freedom would bring them? What obstacles blocked their efforts to gain citizenship? How successful were African Americans during Reconstruction in claiming their objectives? Did the 14th and 15th Amendments to the Constitution significantly aid them in their struggles? The Library of Virginia's exhibition Remaking Virginia: Transformation through Emancipation offers a look at the changing world Virginians faced during Reconstruction.


Remaking Virginia: Transformation through Emancipation
Monday, July 06, 2015-Saturday, March 26, 2016
Time: 9:00 AM-5:00 PM
Place: Lobby and Exhibition Hall,  Free

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