Heroes of the Colored Race
Medium
Classification
Department
Smithsonian Collection
Museum
Smithsonian American Art Museum
Credit
National Portrait Gallery, Smithsonian Institution
Accession Number
NPG.2009.56
Tags
Blanche Kelso Bruce: MaleUS SenatorCharles Edmund Nash: MaleUnion ArmyLouisianaBowtieCotton fieldBattlegroundLecturerNewspaper publisher
About this artwork
This print honors prominent individuals who advocated for the civil and political rights of African Americans during the Reconstruction era. At center, the world-famous abolitionist Frederick Douglass is flanked by portraits of Blanche Bruce and Hiram Revels of Mississippi, the first Black senators (and the last until 1967). Four Black members of the House of Representatives appear in the corners: John Lynch (Mississippi), Joseph Rainey (South Carolina), Robert Smalls (South Carolina), and Charl...