Themes in American History

Exploring The Lost Museum was a very intriguing experience. Navigating through this virtual museum helped to understand the events and people that shaped New York City and the U.S. as a whole. One exhibit that was especially interesting was the No. 6 Sumner-Brooks Warworks found on the second floor of the museum, which shows an exact representation of the infamous May 22nd assault on Massachusetts Senator Charles Sumner in the Senate chamber by South Carolina representative Preston S. Brooks. Here we see our politics in its infancy, yet very passionately displayed, in its attempt to quell the fight on slavery. Preston Brooks was the cousin of South Carolina Senator Andrew Butler, who Senator Sumner, a staunch abolitionist, blasted for what he called his “crime against Kansas”, an area where slavery was beginning to resurface after a 30-year ban. Brooks took to his cousin’s defense and savagely beat Sumner with his cane, which the picture on the right displays. The museum prevalently showed the horrors of slavery as an institution, and brought the the forefront the essence of freedom for the enslaved that bleeds from the veins of our country’s history. The image on the left represents the rising tension in the country during the mid-1800s over the issue of slavery. The Lost Museum was truly rich in history and definitely a great tool in exploring the events, politics and arts of our country.

Tags: slavery

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