Artist Thomas S. Noble (1835-1907), a native of Kentucky whose family owned slaves, fought for the Confederacy in the Civil War. However, Noble is best known for a series of paintings depicting the cruelty of slavery. His 1867 painting The Modern Medea—The Story of Margaret Garner depicts the moment when, facing capture under the fugitive slave law, Garner killed her daughter rather than let her be enslaved again. Noble won acclaim for his works and later became director of one of the nation’s first art design schools. Today he is respected for his courage in depicting the evils of slavery at a time when most artists ignored it.