A Visit from the Old Mistress, by Winslow Homer, oil on canvas, 1876.

A Visit from the Old Mistress, by Winslow Homer, oil on canvas, 1876.
(National Museum of American Art,
Smithsonian Institution,
Gift of William T. Evans)

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American artist Winslow Homer captured the tensions and ambiguities of Reconstruction's new social order when he depicted an imaginary meeting between a Southern white woman and her former slaves.

Homer, an artist correspondent during the Civil War, placed his subjects on an equal footing yet maintained a space of separation between the races. He exhibited the painting to acclaim at the Paris Universal Exposition in 1878.
Copyright 2003
A New Birth of Freedom: Reconstruction During the Civil War he Meaning of Freedom: Black and White Responses to Slavery From Free Labor to Slave Labor Rights and Power: The Politics of Reconstruction Introduction The Ending of Reconstruction Epilogue: The Unfinished Revolution Additional Resources Credits for this Exhibit