ALPLM showcasing unique Black History Month items
These two rare treasures of Black History in America will be on display as well as the return of a short play titled 'Small Beginnings,' telling the story of Robert Smalls and his escape from slavery. For the first time, ALPLM is showcasing a badge that African Americans, whether free or enslaved, were required to wearing in Charleston, SC when outside their homes.
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'The badges were primarily used to reduce the chance of anyone escaping by keeping tabs on enslaved people who were moving about the city to do work assigned by their oppressors,' the library said in its press release.
The badge the ALPLM obtained is a copper square, approximately two inches on a side, from 1819. Charleston collected $3,700 by selling these licenses to enslavers and the city's free Black population that year, equivalent to $92,000 today.
Another item on display for the first time is a poster that was used to recruit African American men for the U.S. Army. This came after President Lincoln signed the Emancipation Proclamation.
This poster depicts a Black soldier holding a U.S. flag and a banner that says, 'Freedom to the Slave.' In the background, Black troops march to war, Black children attend a public school and Black men free enslaved people from their chains.
ALPLM said that copies of this poster were probably given out throughout the South as the Army took control of territory there, because the back of the poster encourages Black men to come 'to the nearest United States Camp, and fight for the Stars and Stripes.'
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'These historic treasures truly drive home what was at stake in the Civil War,' said Christina Shutt, Executive Director of the ALPLM. 'One reminds us that Black men and women were treated as mere property, rather than human beings. They were licensed and monitored the same way we treat cars today. But the poster offers an optimistic view of the future, with Black men rising up to seize the opportunity for freedom that Lincoln's Emancipation Proclamation had created.'
Additionally, ALPLM has developed a theatrical presentation about Robert Smalls, a popular figure from the Civil War era. Smalls was born into slavery and commandeered a Confederate ship in Charleston Harbor. He used that to take family and friends to freedom in 1862.
Smalls then piloted that ship for the U.S. Navy, and after the war, he returned to the Charleston area and was elected to Congress.
He is portrayed by actor Reggie Guyton in a brief one-person play, accompanied by music from Randy Erwin. After each performance, Guyton will take questions from the audience. The play's schedule will be Feb. 13, 14, 18, 27 and 28 and all performances will take place at 1:30 p.m. Tickets are free with regular museum admission.
For more information, visit presidentlincoln.illinois.gov or follow ALPLM on Facebook, X and Instagram.
Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
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