MSU Libraries personnel contribute to online exhibit on slavery in Southeast U.S.

Contact: James Carskadon

A historic photograph of two fugitive slaves that crossed into Union army lines in 1863.
In this 1863 portrait image, two African-American males are identified as "contraband," a term used to describe fugitive slaves who crossed Union army lines. The image, part of MSU’s Frank and Virginia Williams Collection of Lincolniana, is used in the Association of Southeastern Research Libraries’ new shared online exhibit titled “Enslaved People in the Southeast.” (Photo courtesy of MSU Libraries)

STARKVILLE, Miss.—Mississippi State Universities Libraries personnel have helped develop a first-of-its-kind online exhibit on slavery in the Southeastern United States.

The Association of Southeastern Research Libraries (ASERL) recently launched a shared online exhibit, “Enslaved People in the Southeast” to commemorate the 400th anniversary of the beginning of the slave trade in the English Colonies. University Archivist Jessica Perkins Smith serves as co-chair of the collections group that developed the exhibit, while Coordinator of Manuscripts Jennifer McGillan served on the exhibit’s curation team.

The exhibit brings together materials from 33 ASERL member institutions to create the organizations first shared online exhibit. It also includes material from three members of the HBCU Library Alliance.

“We have member institutions all over the Southeast with fantastic collections,” Perkins Smith said. “They all have a variety of records and material related to the slave trade, and we were able to curate materials that show the legacy of slavery, such as Jim Crow. Our thoughts are that this exhibit can be a teaching tool and a way of building on collaborations with ASERL institutions in general.”

Items in the exhibit include records from auctions and plantations, materials from the abolitionist movement and photographs from the Jim Crow South. Perkins Smith said contributions from MSU’s archives include freedom papers, receipts for enslaved persons and letters from plantation owners relating to enslaved persons on their land.

To view the online exhibit, visit https://aserlsharedenslavedpeople.omeka.net/exhibits/show/enslaved-people-in-the-se.

Founded in 1956, ASERL is one of the largest regional research library consortia in the United States, serving 38 institutional members in 11 states. For more, visit www.aserl.org.

MSU is Mississippi’s leading university, available online at www.msstate.edu.