When you think about America's Gilded Age, what do you imagine?
Perhaps you see images of “Little House on the Prairie”? Or photos of dapper gentlemen and women dressed in frilly lace, riding steam engine trains across the country?
Most of us equate the fashion and social norms of that time period with the latter Victorian era that occurred in the U.K. around the same time. And that’s not in-accurate, per se ... except for the part where we tend to assume that everyone was white.
Yes, Jim Crow laws were in effect. But there were still plenty of black Americans rockin' those cravats and wide-brimmed hats, too. You just don't see them in most history books.
So I dug up 17 of my favorite historical photos of black people in Gilded Age fashions. Believe it or not, they were easily accessible through public archives — which means they've been there all along, waiting to show us what history really looked like.














Gif of Emma Stone crying via
A woman comforts an older manCanva
A pair of feet being soaked in hot waterCanva
A smiling woman stretches at her desk at workCanva
Floating gardens with solar panels. Image from
Petroleum jelly. Image from 


Gif of Matthew McConaughey clapping via
A mother and daughter share an embraceCanva
A woman stands by a lakeCanva
Gif of woman saying "You messed up" via
A man by a lake speaks on his cell phoneCanva
Representative Image: The seat number on your ticket probably the one you should take.
Representative Image: The middle seat is a just reward for her behavior.
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