Images

Richard III of England woos Lady Anne Neville in Act I Scene II of William Shakespeare's The Tragedy of Richard III (c. 1594), drawing by Herbert Railton, circa 1890. Folger Shakespeare Library.

Edwin Booth, famous 19th-century American actor, brother of John Wilkes Booth, as Richard III of England, the protagonist of William Shakespeare's The Tragedy of Richard III. Print by Henry Duff Linton, 1872. Folger Shakespeare Library.

Broadside condemning the sale and keeping of slaves in the District of Columbia, issued during the 1835-36 petition campaign by the American Anti-Slavery Society, 1836. Library of Congress, Washington, D.C.

Portrait of Solomon Northup in his plantation suit, by Frederick M. Coffin, frontispiece to an 1859 edition of Twelve Years a Slave, first published in 1853.

A 1916 German-made medal commemorating the sinking of RMS Lusitania. The liner was sunk off the coast of Ireland by a German U-boat torpedo on 7 May 1915 during the First World War (1914-18). (Imperial War Museums)

A photograph of the RMS Lusitania at sea, the liner which was sunk off the coast of Ireland by a German U-boat torpedo on 7 May 1915 during the First World War (1914-18). (Imperial War Museums)

A 1915 recruitment poster showing the RMS Lusitania, the liner which was sunk off the coast of Ireland by a German U-boat torpedo on 7 May 1915 during the First World War (1914-18). (Imperial War Museums)

A cork lifebelt from the RMS Lusitania, the liner which was sunk off the coast of Ireland by a German U-boat torpedo on 7 May 1915 during the First World War (1914-18). (Imperial War Museums)

In early 1861, the United States entered the most severe constitutional and political crisis in its history. The election of Abraham Lincoln (president 1861–1865) triggered a wave of secessions beginning with South Carolina in December 1860...

Portrait of abolitionist Dr. John Doy, by Thomas Holman, 1860. The print was published in John Doy's The Narrative of John Doy, of Lawrence, Kansas: "A Plain, Unvarnished Tale."