Future Governor Edward Coles Freeing His Slaves While Enroute to Illinois 1819

Enslaved men, women, and children exult when their master, Edward Coles, announces that they are free. Coles, a prominent Virginian who was a lifelong opponent of slavery, transported his slaves to Illinois in 1819, freed them en route, and provided them with parcels of land. Coles stayed on in Illinois and was elected the second governor of the state. This mural hangs on the first floor of the Illinois State Capitol, one of eight murals of historic interest produced by the Phillips Decorative Company of Chicago in 1885.