These blooms provided the cue for the dishes that were selected for the table, chosen from among the 58 sets of china du Pont had available for use. The tablescapes began with the centerpiece, which usually included fresh flowers from the garden and greenhouses. The Du Pont Dining Room was the stage on which du Pont created elegant meals for his guests. Guests would arrive for a weekend of tea on the terrace, golf, swimming, tennis, countless games of bridge, and more.Ī highlight of these weekends was the spectacular dinner parties. He and his wife, Ruth, loved to entertain, and Winterthur provided a perfect setting. Posted by Tess DeBerry ApApPosted in Blog, Museum, Museum Gifts for Mothers and the Special Women in Your Lifeĭesigning Winterthur, the new self-guided house tour, features sample table settings created by Henry Francis du Pont. Read more and see the Anna Pottery “Liberty Monument” on view in the Bearing Witness exhibition in the Galleries, and watch a video narrated by Jonathan Michael Square. On its 150th anniversary, we remember the single most violent instance of racial violence during the Reconstruction Era, which laid the foundation for segregation in the United States. The Colfax Massacre is often left out of history books, even though it fundamentally affected racial relations and altered the fabric of not only Louisiana but the country as a whole. Inscriptions: (left) “this great / hight makes / me dizzy” and (right) “got his foot in it / Credit Mobelier” The inscriptions “this great / hight makes / me dizzy” and “got his foot in it / Credit Mobelier” appear near Colfax. Although not directly involved with the massacre, Colfax was associated with government corruption, having been implicated in the Crédit Mobilier scandal. The Kirkpatricks also included a depiction of Grant’s vice president, Schuyler Colfax. The words “Freedom / in / Louisiana” sarcastically point out the government corruption and social inequity that contributed to the devastation in Colfax.

citizens of all races equal protection under the law. Inscriptions on the surface state, “Our protection / under the / Civil-right / Bill,” a reference to the Civil Rights Act of 1866 that provided U.S. Atop the monument stands Lady Liberty, who ironically watches a violent instance of voter suppression. Wallace and Cornwall Kirkpatrick, the potters who made the Liberty Monument in 1873, clearly had a visceral reaction to hearing news about the event. Historians estimate that between 60 and 150 Black Americans were killed that day. The group of white men then murdered most of the Black men. The two forces fought until the Black militia was forced to surrender. A mob of 150 white men, including former Confederate soldiers and members of the Ku Klux Klan and the White League, stormed the courthouse and fired a cannon on the group inside. Out of fear that the White League would seize control of the local government, an all-Black militia took control of the courthouse in April 1873. They created the “White League,” a heavily armed paramilitary group that intimidated Black and white Reconstructionists across the state.

Grant sent federal military support to support the Republican Reconstructionist candidate, white Southerners retaliated. It stemmed from the 1872 governor election in Louisiana, which had resulted in a split vote between the Democrat and Republican candidates. Known as the Colfax Massacre, it is among the worst examples of the systemic brutality perpetrated by white supremacist terrorist groups on Black Americans in U.S. The Anna Pottery “Liberty Monument,” on view in the Bearing Witness exhibition in the Galleries, tells the story of the especially violent event that occurred on April 13 of that year. The bitter resentments of former slave owners and their struggles to retain power erupted in fighting throughout the South, notably in Louisiana in 1873. During the Reconstruction era, the political participation and social status of many Black Americans increased, while domestic-terrorist groups such as the Ku Klux Klan fought to keep white-supremacist policies in place.

The years after the Civil War were rife with violence and unrest as the country grappled with reunification and creating an equitable society. Liberty Monument by Cornwall Kirkpatrick and Wallace Kirkpatrick, Anna Pottery, Anna, Illinois, 1873.

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