Exhibit seeks insight into relationship between Old South, slavery.

Byline: Dahleen Glanton

ATLANTA _ In the 138 years since the Civil War, a question has lingered over the South as hauntingly as the memories of the soldiers who gave their lives on the battlefield. How important was slavery, Southerners have asked, in the struggle to hold to the Confederacy?

Historians have debated the question, yet the answer remains elusive. And in a place where the past often clashes with the present, the issue forms a divisive line that pits blacks against whites and lovers of the Old Confederacy against those who loathe it.

An exhibit that began recently at the Martin Luther King Jr. National Historic Site seeks to offer insight into the complex relationship between the Old South and its slaves. The display of paintings and Confederate currency reveals a little-known fact in America: that slaves were routinely depicted on paper money in the South from the mid-1800s until the early 1900s.

If nothing more, South Carolina artist John Jones said, his collection of acrylic paintings on canvas discredits a longstanding Southern assertion that the war was solely an issue of states' rights and proves that it was as much or more about holding on to an inhumane institution that fueled the region's economy.

"The history of a country, its values and economy are often reflected in its money. This shows what was going on during the Civil War and antebellum periods, and what it says about the importance of slavery is right on the money," Jones said. "The engravings are a visual smoking gun that document how much free slave labor enriched America."

According to historians, slaves began showing up on Southern money as early as 1820, and the images proliferated in the 1850s as the debate over slavery heated up in America. Prior to the establishment of the Federal Reserve System in 1913, institutions printed their own money freely, and in the South, blacks were one of the primary subjects. They are shown on bank notes, currency and bonds issued by banks, hotels and railroads. They are shown planting, picking and hauling cotton and tending cattle.