Held within Kara Walker’s shadowy silhouettes is an examination of the racist tropes that too often define American history. One of her most haunting tableaux, Harper’s Pictorial History of the Civil War (Annotated), comes to the New-York Historical Society for five months beginning February 24. This stirring series of caricatures, printed atop illustrations from the 1866 two-volume anthology of the same name, explores Black participation in the Civil War and its omission from America’s collective memory. Displayed alongside original 19th-century images, Walker’s visual retelling is a correction to the traditional narrative, reminding us of the trauma and sacrifice Black Americans endured as they took part in the battle for their own freedom. —Lucy Horowitz