Dog+Swap,+A

Date: 1881
 * [[image:https://s3.amazonaws.com/saam.media/files/styles/x_large/s3/images/1956/1956.11.2_1a.jpg?itok=yxd9FoyX width="434" height="314" link="@https://americanart.si.edu/artwork/a-dog-swap-2850"]] || Title: **A Dog Swap**

Artist: **Richard Norris Brooke** Born: Warrenton, Virginia 1847 Died: Warrenton, Virginia 1920

Medium: oil on canvas Dimensions: 47 1/8 x 65 7/8 in. (119.6 x 167.2 cm) Smithsonian American Art Museum Gift of Colonel Thomas G. Young, Jr.

Accession: 1956.11.2 || The United States, especially the South, was devastated by the Civil War and faced with many questions about how to rebuild and reconcile. What would happen to the freed slaves, what would the relationship between the races be, etc.? The Federal Government instituted a period of "Reconstruction" from 1865-1876 to address some of these questions. Despite the 13th, 14th, and 15th Amendments to the Constituion that should have guaranteed freedom and the right to vote, many African-Americans in the South found their situation largely unchanged.
 * Exhibition Label: **

In this scene, set in rural Virginia, two men debate a potential swap of hunting dogs. Though the details of the housing, clothing, and other parts of the environment point to a hard life for these families, at this moment they are enjoying some leisure time.


 * Suggested Questions: **
 * What is going on in this scene?
 * Which dog would you rather have and why? How do you think the men feel about their dogs? Will they end up swapping them or not?
 * <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 110%;">Based on the evidence you see, what do you think life is like for these people?

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 110%;">[|Artist Biography] <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 110%;">[|SAAM Collections Page]
 * <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 110%;">Links: **