NEH Application Cover Sheet America's Historical and Cultural Organizations PROJECT DIRECTOR Barbara C Batson E-mail:
[email protected] Exhibitions Coordinator Phone(W): 804-692-3518 800 East Broad Street Phone(H): Richmond, VA 23219-8000 Fax: UNITED STATES Field of Expertise: Arts: History, Criticism, and Theory of the Arts INSTITUTION Library of Virginia Foundation Richmond, VA UNITED STATES APPLICATION INFORMATION Title: To Be Sold: Virginia and the American Slave Trade Grant Period: From 4/2014 to 5/2016 Field of Project: History: U.S. History; History: African American History Description of Project: To Be Sold: Virginia and the American Slave Trade is an exploration of the visual and material culture of the American domestic slave trade captured through the paintings and illustrations created by British artist Eyre Crowe based on his 1853 visit to Richmond's slave market. Crowe's works captured the complexities and pathos of American slavery and the internal slave trade. To Be Sold uses Crowe's works as the basis to explore Virginia's role as a mass exporter of enslaved people through the Richmond market to the Lower South and the inner workings of the market itself--the most profitable economic activity in terms of gross receipts in Virginia and possibly the nation. To Be Sold is the first exhibition to explore and examine the development of the visual and material culture of the internal slave trade. The project is comprised of a traveling exhibition (January 2015-March 2016), a one- day, two-site webcast symposium,