Digital Exhibit: Slavery and Freedom in the White House Collection

Slavery and Freedom in the White House Collection explores the history of slavery and emancipation in the United States through art, furnishings, chinaware, and other objects in the White House.

Objects reflect the economic, political, and cultural status of their owners, and embody ideas about race, class, and identity across time. As a result, they are windows into the lives of people: laborers who harvested raw materials, craftsmen and artisans making the finished products, buyers and sellers participating in consumer culture, even conservators, curators, and historians preserving them for future generations.