"Restoration" is an oil painting on masonite that came about from a series of illustrations on the Black diaspora at the culmination of the Civil War. "Restoration" represents a deeply troubling and uneven chapter in African American history. Freedom finally arrived and with it citizenship, the right to vote (for men), to get married, to receive an education and more. Though we know now that true equality would remain out of reach, the way of life for many in the South came to an abrupt end. This is the pathos and the promise that languishes over Restoration.