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.
Microphone in a podcast studio.Image via 
Spinning in a chair. 
People waiting to be interviewed.Image via 
Business professionals in the workplace.Image via 
The resume of a new employee.Image via 
'The Office.' 
A woman blocks the camera shotCanva
A woman rolls her eyesCanva
An angry woman looks off-cameraCanva
Two young women packing up for collegeCanva
Father and daughter hugCanva
A father and young daughter play together at the beachCanva
A father and daughter play around next to a pierCanva
A man hands over a debt collection noticeCanva
A woman holds a cell phoneCanva
A woman laughs at her cell phone
A toddler crawls towards his sisterCanva
Toddlers run down the streetCanva 
A young child smiles at his baby sisterCanva