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An engraving of Dante and Virgil facing off against a horde of demonic entities as they travel through Hell.

An engraving of Dante and Virgil facing off against a horde of demonic entities as they travel through Hell.

Shifting in time between the years preceding the Civil War and the years immediately following it. "Beloved" is the story of how an escaped slave tries to overcome the tragic death of her daughter. Morrison's lyrical narrative weaves together the supernatural and the tangible, and the result is a dazzling achievement and a spellbinding reading experience.

Shifting in time between the years preceding the Civil War and the years immediately following it. "Beloved" is the story of how an escaped slave tries to overcome the tragic death of her daughter. Morrison's lyrical narrative weaves together the supernatural and the tangible, and the result is a dazzling achievement and a spellbinding reading experience.

Summary: A historical, social, religious, and natural history of the ancient world.

Summary: A historical, social, religious, and natural history of the ancient world.

A carte-de-visite bust-length portrait of Sojourner Truth with the text [I Sell the Shadow to Support the Substance./Sojourner Truth.] beneath the image. Truth is depicted wearing a light colored shawl and bonnet which is tied under her chin. She is slightly turned towards the proper right side of the photograph. The verso reads [Entered according to the act of Congress/in the year 1864, by SOJOURNER TRUTH,/in the Clerk's Office, of the US District/Court for the Eastern District of Mich.].

A carte-de-visite bust-length portrait of Sojourner Truth with the text [I Sell the Shadow to Support the Substance./Sojourner Truth.] beneath the image. Truth is depicted wearing a light colored shawl and bonnet which is tied under her chin. She is slightly turned towards the proper right side of the photograph. The verso reads [Entered according to the act of Congress/in the year 1864, by SOJOURNER TRUTH,/in the Clerk's Office, of the US District/Court for the Eastern District of Mich.].

A headdress carved from wood and decorated with animal hair, bamboo, iron, and pigment.

A headdress carved from wood and decorated with animal hair, bamboo, iron, and pigment.

Summary: Runaway slave Sojourner Truth gained fame in the nineteenth century as an abolitionist, feminist, and orator and earned a living partly by selling photographic carte de visite portraits of herself at lectures and by mail. Cartes de visite, similar in format to calling cards, were relatively inexpensive collectibles that quickly became a new mode of mass communication. Despite being illiterate, Truth copyrighted her photographs in her name and added the caption “I Sell the Shadow to Support the Substance.

Summary: Runaway slave Sojourner Truth gained fame in the nineteenth century as an abolitionist, feminist, and orator and earned a living partly by selling photographic carte de visite portraits of herself at lectures and by mail. Cartes de visite, similar in format to calling cards, were relatively inexpensive collectibles that quickly became a new mode of mass communication. Despite being illiterate, Truth copyrighted her photographs in her name and added the caption “I Sell the Shadow to Support the Substance.

Masks from the Cameroon Grassfields were owned by either the men's regulatory society (Kwifoyn) that shared power with the king (Fon), or by lineage groups authorized by the Kwifoyn to perform. Although all masked dancers in the Grassfields are male, they may represent either male or female characters. This mask represents Ngoin, the royal wife and a symbol of womanhood. The mask can be identified by the royal headdress that has an almond or oval-shaped protruberance at the top and a wavy or zigzag hairline. Ngoin dances with short, restrained steps to mark her royal presence.

Masks from the Cameroon Grassfields were owned by either the men's regulatory society (Kwifoyn) that shared power with the king (Fon), or by lineage groups authorized by the Kwifoyn to perform. Although all masked dancers in the Grassfields are male, they may represent either male or female characters. This mask represents Ngoin, the royal wife and a symbol of womanhood. The mask can be identified by the royal headdress that has an almond or oval-shaped protruberance at the top and a wavy or zigzag hairline. Ngoin dances with short, restrained steps to mark her royal presence.

A collage of portraits of "The Original Georgia Minstrels". Each portrait is numbered and their names listed: 1) C. B. Hicks, 2) C. Crusoe, 3) H. Easton, 4) S. Keenan, 5) J. Mills, 6) J. Morton, 7) J. Matlock, 8) W. Sanders, 9) C. (G.) Harris, 10) J. Thomas, 11) A. Jackson, 12) W. Wilson, 13) D. Bowman, and 14) Brown.

A collage of portraits of "The Original Georgia Minstrels". Each portrait is numbered and their names listed: 1) C. B. Hicks, 2) C. Crusoe, 3) H. Easton, 4) S. Keenan, 5) J. Mills, 6) J. Morton, 7) J. Matlock, 8) W. Sanders, 9) C. (G.) Harris, 10) J. Thomas, 11) A. Jackson, 12) W. Wilson, 13) D. Bowman, and 14) Brown.

A score for the piece "He's Up Against the Real Thing Now". The cover includes the tagline "Williams and Walker's Latest Comic Coon Craze."

A score for the piece "He's Up Against the Real Thing Now". The cover includes the tagline "Williams and Walker's Latest Comic Coon Craze."

A headdress carved from wood and decorated with pigment.

A headdress carved from wood and decorated with pigment.

This mask, called Sowo (pl. Sowei) or Bondo, is a type commissioned and worn by female members of the Gola, Temne, and Mende Sande societies in Sierra Leone and Liberia. The Sande society is responsible for the instruction of young girls into adulthood. This process occurs in the forest under the guidance of senior Sande members and Sowo or Bondo nature spirits. Once they have learned basic female values and trained for marriage, domestic life, and religious, economic, and political pursuits, the girls are integrated back into the village as women.

This mask, called Sowo (pl. Sowei) or Bondo, is a type commissioned and worn by female members of the Gola, Temne, and Mende Sande societies in Sierra Leone and Liberia. The Sande society is responsible for the instruction of young girls into adulthood. This process occurs in the forest under the guidance of senior Sande members and Sowo or Bondo nature spirits. Once they have learned basic female values and trained for marriage, domestic life, and religious, economic, and political pursuits, the girls are integrated back into the village as women.

Summary: An Irish translation of the Historia Brittonum ("The History of the Britons"), including the purported classical origin of the people as well as the legends surrounding King Arthur.

Summary: An Irish translation of the Historia Brittonum ("The History of the Britons"), including the purported classical origin of the people as well as the legends surrounding King Arthur.

A score for the Virginia Minstrels song "Jim Crack Corn".

A score for the Virginia Minstrels song "Jim Crack Corn".

A poster reproduction of a painting by David Teniers the Younger depicting the temptation of the desert father St. Anthony by demons.

A poster reproduction of a painting by David Teniers the Younger depicting the temptation of the desert father St. Anthony by demons.

Print shows a Haitian military officer, holding a printed copy of the Constitution of 1801, standing opposite a bishop appealing to an image of God or Moses in the heavens, with other Haitians and soldiers gathered around. Includes remarque: Liberté, Egalite, République d'Haïty, showing two cannons, a liberty cap atop a pole, banners, and olive branches.

Print shows a Haitian military officer, holding a printed copy of the Constitution of 1801, standing opposite a bishop appealing to an image of God or Moses in the heavens, with other Haitians and soldiers gathered around. Includes remarque: Liberté, Egalite, République d'Haïty, showing two cannons, a liberty cap atop a pole, banners, and olive branches.

A collection of the poems of Paul Laurence Dunbar.

A collection of the poems of Paul Laurence Dunbar.

Summary: A novel conveying the fictional tale of a young woman falsely accused of witchcraft.

Summary: A novel conveying the fictional tale of a young woman falsely accused of witchcraft.

A colored illustration of T. D. Rice as Jim Crow.

A colored illustration of T. D. Rice as Jim Crow.

Summary: Moral reform movements targeting racial minorities have long been central in negotiating the relationship between race and class in the United States, particularly in periods of large scale social change.

Summary: Moral reform movements targeting racial minorities have long been central in negotiating the relationship between race and class in the United States, particularly in periods of large scale social change.

Summary: A collection of the works of Saint Isidore, of Seville.

Summary: A collection of the works of Saint Isidore, of Seville.

A portrait of Sojourner Truth.

A portrait of Sojourner Truth.

A journal, devoted to the interests of Southern agriculture; designed to improve the mind, and elevate the character of the tillers of the soil, and to introduce a more enlightened system of culture.

A journal, devoted to the interests of Southern agriculture; designed to improve the mind, and elevate the character of the tillers of the soil, and to introduce a more enlightened system of culture.

A set of scores for the Crow Quadrilles, composed de capo for the piano.

A set of scores for the Crow Quadrilles, composed de capo for the piano.

Decision in the case of the slave, Dred Scott, vs. John F. A. Sandford, his master.

Decision in the case of the slave, Dred Scott, vs. John F. A. Sandford, his master.

An engraving of the four beasts which appeared to Daniel in a vision rising from the sea.

An engraving of the four beasts which appeared to Daniel in a vision rising from the sea.

Summary: A collection of the works of Washington Irving.

Summary: A collection of the works of Washington Irving.

Summary: An autobiography of Olaudah Equiano.

Summary: An autobiography of Olaudah Equiano.

A breathtaking exploration of the lives of young black women in the early twentieth century. In Wayward Lives, Beautiful Experiments, Saidiya Hartman examines the revolution of black intimate life that unfolded in Philadelphia and New York at the beginning of the twentieth century. Free love, common-law and transient marriages, serial partners, cohabitation outside of wedlock, queer relations, and single motherhood were among the sweeping changes that altered the character of everyday life and challenged traditional Victorian beliefs about courtship, love, and marriage.

A breathtaking exploration of the lives of young black women in the early twentieth century. In Wayward Lives, Beautiful Experiments, Saidiya Hartman examines the revolution of black intimate life that unfolded in Philadelphia and New York at the beginning of the twentieth century. Free love, common-law and transient marriages, serial partners, cohabitation outside of wedlock, queer relations, and single motherhood were among the sweeping changes that altered the character of everyday life and challenged traditional Victorian beliefs about courtship, love, and marriage.

Summary: Uncovers the strategies early African American writers used both to create an African American identity and to make their visions and stories accessible to white readers. Beginning with Phillis Wheatley and John Marrant, who created popular literature by using formulas like that of the Puritan narrative, and ending with the subversive work of Harriet Jacobs and Elizabeth Keckley, Zafar argues that black writers tried every literary strategy--from mimicry and masking to invisibility--as a means of promoting empathy and as a way of transcending the attitudes of mainstream America.

Summary: Uncovers the strategies early African American writers used both to create an African American identity and to make their visions and stories accessible to white readers. Beginning with Phillis Wheatley and John Marrant, who created popular literature by using formulas like that of the Puritan narrative, and ending with the subversive work of Harriet Jacobs and Elizabeth Keckley, Zafar argues that black writers tried every literary strategy--from mimicry and masking to invisibility--as a means of promoting empathy and as a way of transcending the attitudes of mainstream America.

A songbook of popular songs, jokes, conundrums, burlesque lectures, etc. related to Charles White's band of serenaders.

A songbook of popular songs, jokes, conundrums, burlesque lectures, etc. related to Charles White's band of serenaders.

The journal of William Dunbar from 1804-1805. He was a southern Mississippi planter. The journal casts light on and details relations of power including performances between plantation slavers and enslaved. It shows how both parties lived and at least provokes imaginings about sentiments.

The journal of William Dunbar from 1804-1805. He was a southern Mississippi planter. The journal casts light on and details relations of power including performances between plantation slavers and enslaved. It shows how both parties lived and at least provokes imaginings about sentiments.