“Fire and Freedom – Food and Enslavement in Early America’ is a six panel banner exhibit from the National Library of Medicine which opened at the Rice County Historical Society/Coronado Quivira Museum on August 1, 2023.
The exhibit focuses on meals which reflect how power is exchanged between and among different peoples, races, genders, and classes. In the Chesapeake region during the colonial era, European settlers relied upon indentured servants, Native Americans, and African slave labor for life-saving knowledge of farming and food acquisition, and to gain economic prosperity. “Fire and Freedom” peers into life at George Washington’s Mount Vernon plantation and the labor of enslaved workers to learn about the ways that meals transcend taste and sustenance.
Slavery was never benevolent or kind. Because of their status on the plantation, some slaves were awarded extra privileges. These privileges may have included the ability to earn income from selling leftover foodstuffs or their own crops in the marketplace; the opportunity to wear fine clothes; and, permission to travel outside the plantation. Despite these advantages, slaves, no matter how revered or “well-treated,” still longed for freedom.
The United States National Library of Medicine, operated by the United States federal government, is the world’s largest medical library. It is located in Bethesda, Maryland, and the NLM is an institute within the National Institutes of Health.
The Coronado Quivira Museum is located at 105 West Lyon, Lyons, Kansas. Hours of operation are Tuesday to Friday from 10:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. and Saturday from 10:00 a.m. to 1:00 p.m. Call (620) 257-3941 for more information.
