Anacostia Museum’s new exhibit features slave family’s story

The Smithsonian’s Anacostia Community Museum is introducing a new exhibit chronicling the trials and tribulations of one slave family in Maryland before and after the Civil War. Part of the exhibit is a diary started in 1841 by Adam Francis, then the enslaved patriarch of the Plummer family. The diary provides a firsthand account of the family’s struggles and achievements. The exhibit, “Hand of Freedom: The Life and Legacy of the Plummer Family,” opened Monday. It incorporates artifacts from the family and a film about the diary’s discovery. The museum is also highlighting a second new exhibit called“How the Civil War Changed Washington.” It focuses on the war’s impact on the evolution of the nation’s capital. The museum looks at Washington’s neighborhoods, workforce and demographics over the course of time.