Black Founders: The Free Black Community in the Early Republic

The struggle of American blacks to secure rights as citizens—as free people—began years before our first bearded President took up his pen. The Library Company’s newest exhibition will feature Absalom Jones, Richard and Sarah Allen, and many others who worked for the end of slavery long before Abraham Lincoln. It packs in over two centuries of history, creating a sense of slavery’s scope in American history. The issues of abolitionism, exodus, and white supremacy consumed popular media for decades before the Civil War. “Black Founders” will give visitors a choice view of items important in the development of liberty and justice for all.    

The exhibition runs from March 10 - October 10, and is open to the public free of charge from 9:00am to 4:45 pm, Monday through Friday.