The Jamestown Tercentennial Exposition marked the 300th anniversary of the founding of the first permanent English settlement in America. Located in Norfolk, Virginia it opened April 26, 1907 and closed November 30, 1907. Dignitaries who visited the included Booker T. Washington, Mark Twain, and President Theodore Roosevelt. The first image on this page is of a promotional lithograph in the collection of the Library of Virginia. The second image, a map of the exposition’s fairgrounds, is available at the Theodore Roosevelt Center at Dickinson State College. Click on the links above or the images below for more information.
“This image by English artist Eyre Crowe was published on the cover of the March 9, 1861 edition of the Illustrated London News. Click here or on the image to read the complete entry at the Encyclopedia Virginia website.
“Before the Civil War, most black barbers explicitly groomed wealthy white men, like businessmen and politicians. Black customers were not allowed to get haircuts in these black-owned barbershops, mainly because white customers didn’t want black customers getting shaved next to them. That smacked too much of social equality, so barbers capitulated to the wishes of their white customers both in the North and the South.” Hunter Oatman-Stanford. “Straight Razors and Social Justice: The Empowering Evolution of Black Barbershops,” Collector’s Weekly, May 30, 2014
Table 1. Pension Approval Rates for Civil War Veterans by Period, Race, and Military Medical History: United States, 1865-1906
“According to [Donald] Shaffer, Blacks were investigated about twice as often as Whites and these investigations were more thorough and took longer. Furthermore, claim agents (who often assisted in the application process) often took advantage of Black soldiers by submitting fraudulent claims. Finally, the difficulty Blacks had in providing essential dates, including dates of birth, marriage, military service, wounds, and illnesses, ‘led to frustration and suspicion on the part of pension bureaucrats.'”
“The Civil War Soldiers and Sailors System (CWSS) is a database containing information about the men who served in the Union and Confederate armies during the Civil War. Other information on the site includes histories of Union and Confederate regiments, links to descriptions of significant battles, and selected lists of prisoner-of-war records and cemetery records, which will be amended over time. The CWSS is a cooperative effort between the National Park Service and several public and private partners whose goal is to increase Americans’ understanding of this decisive era in American history by making information about it widely accessible.”
Click on the image or the link in the text above to go directly to the database. You might want to explore the other tabs as well.
While researching the lives of my great-great-grandfather Edward R. Pitt and his brother William Thomas Pitt of Norfolk County, Virginia, I found fascinating (and sometimes disturbing) details about the civilian and military experiences of those who served in the 1st U.S. Colored Cavalry.
The regiment included free men, freedmen, freedom-seekers and white officers from the United States and abroad. It was organized at Camp Hamilton, Virginia in 1863, attached to Fortress Monroe, Virginia in 1864, and mustered out at Brazos Santiago, Texas in 1866.
1st U.S. Colored Cavalry 