The Charleston Museum

 

Pen&ink and watercolor on CP watercolor Laloran sketchbook 5 in x 5 in 

The Charleston Museum was a good start to visiting museums. The museum is clearly set up to learn the history of the city from the beginning, from Native Americans to the civil war. This museum has a collection of exotic items from the 19th century which makes it the oldest museum collection in the US.

From all the items I saw, I picked the ones that made a big impression on me. These municipal slave badges are unique to Charleston. City officials required the owner to register any slaves performing work as the sketch shows, with the city treasurer, pay a tax and adquiere badges. It was a system created to regulate and identify available skilled urban slaves, slaves who lived and worked in proximity to their owners.

There was also a badge for free slaves. Like copper labor badges that were mandated for slaves who were hired out by their masters, badges were also issued to the city’s free persons of color. Although the law did not require these badges to displayed dates or names, it still demanded that they be worn “exposed view”. After six years, Charleston repealed the free badge law in 1789.