Slave Lynching

This is a painting by Claude Clark in 1915. He was born in Georgia and is African American. He has painted many paintings relating to his heritage. This painting "Slave Lynching" is a direct statement about the agony slaves in this country endured. As you see the slave is tied by the hands to a wood post facing the crowd with no clothes on (I cannot tell if the red pigment on her body is clothing or blood). The slaveholder is depicted in a forward motion about to whip the slave over and over. I really like that Claude Clark depicts this painting in front of an enormous crowd watching because it is often stated in history that slave owners lynched slaves in front of others as a tactic of fear and intimidation. I believe Clark used vibrant colors such as red and orange to stir the mood up as one of pain and agony. This is not a pleasant or happy painting to look at, but is part of our country's history we cannot ignore. Clark does a great job of incorporating all the feelings slaves endured by this painting showing the manipulation and control the white slave holders had over slaves of this time.

Radical Equality

This is a lithograph portraying a controversial incident in which President Theodore Roosevelt invited Booker T. Washington in 1901 to dinner at the White House. At the time because it seemed to be radical to have an African American guest eat dinner with the President inside the White House. Of course nowadays we can argue of the lunacy regarding the controversy, yet at the time it was called by The Memphis Scimitar “the most dimmable outrage which has ever been perpetrated by any citizen of the United States.” Even the former President Grover Cleveland (who Washington claims to admire in his book Up from Slavery) declared that “he had never done such a thing as invite a black man to dinner in that house.” I think it’s important to note that even in the 20^th century presidents who had African American guests were criticized for it. The lithograph shows how the dinner represented the equality stated in the 13, 14, and 15^th amendments. However, the controversy following this dinner represented that the country was not ready for radical movements toward equality (we have to remember Booker T. Washington was liked by the mainstream Southern population). The lithograph also shows a portrait of Abraham Lincoln in the middle of both Washington and Roosevelt. I think it signifies the role Lincoln played in the “equality” of the former slaves. I think it also represents how this specific dinner shows how the country was moving towards that equality (beginning with the Emancipation Proclamation) even if the majority of the country was not ready for “radical” occurrences. I think I can argue though, that although because of segregation (which was not eradicated until the Civil Rights Movement) equality between both races had to be a radical process, but the whole country itself had radical movements (like the KKK who is a very radical organization uprooted around this time period). I found this lithograph at The New York Times “Week in Review” section (http://www.nytimes.com/2008/11/09/weekinreview/09harris.html?_r=1) . This article connected the inequality of the nation with the election of President Barack Obama. Published in November 8, 2008.

Ku Klux Klan Cross Burning

To the left is a typical cross burning by the Ku Klux Klan. This took place in Gainesville, FL around 1922. Although this burning took place past the time of Booker T. Washington's autobiography, it is a perfect representation of the destruction and suffering they caused. Their uniforms alone strike fear in that they look like ghosts, but the fact that they surround themselves with the symbol of a cross is somewhat ironic. The actions of the KKK were of pure hatred for another group of men. A cross has many symbols including Christianity and sacredness, neither of which align with the actions of the KKK.

Inside A Classroom

To the right you can see a picture of a classroom taken in Tuskegee in 1902. I got this picture from a website that is a little bit of a puzzle website. It gives you a picture form the historical archives changes a few things and makes you guess the changes. Not that it's really necessary to do the activity but it was fun for anyone who wants to try. Also theres a bigger picture that lets you see the details in the photo which I find really nice since the blog shrank it. So here is the website if you want a better look at the photo I recommend pasting this into your browser> http://historymatters.gmu.edu/text/puzzle5ans.html

If you get a little confused notice that because I had to show you the original photo I had to click end activity and it gave me all the answers. But if you scroll down you just see the original photo, without the white cirlces. The picture was taken just over a decade after the school was founded, and you can see it's thriving. Just looking at sheer numbers this classroom as more than my biggest class at St. Edwards (remember this goes onto become considered a university). Another big thing I noticed was that there are a fair amount of women. This kind of surprised me, I didn't expect to see them in the numbers they're there in. I also noticed right off the chalk boards. Theres more than one in the room and they seem to be written on in only cursive, something I don't nearly as often today as I do print. Also be sure to notice the american flag in the background and pretty much everywhere. I don't think ive ever seen so many flags in a classroom. It's kind of cool to look at all those benches and the floor and think that students themselves most probably helped with those. Every time I look at this picture I see something new and it surprises me. So if anyone wants to take a look at the photo and sees something maybe I did or just has an opinion comment away its interesting to know what other peoples thoughts are .

PS: don't be daunted by my huge block of text above, its intimidating looking even to me

African American Folklore Embroidery

As we just finished up the unit on African Folklore I wanted to share with the class an example of an African American Folklore Embroidery! This is teaching the next generation to stitch with enthusiasm and creativity! When designs are complete, they can be turned into purses, backpacks, pillows, quilts and clothes. The embroidery kit includes a braid of bright African threads and you pull out from the top of the braid your color choice. The meaning of the embroidery is full of color because it is important to gratify and give thanks to color. That means Africans were chastized for so long for being not of the "ivory complexion" like Caucasians, that they are celebrating their heritage by embroidering these tote bags etc. with vibrant authentic african threads to enjoy and celebrate their culture and heritage. This is a very intriguing tradition!

The Artist who painted this is Kenneth Calvert. His work expresses the struggles and difficult views of the natural world. In this painting the slave girl rebels to read and write. This painting is a moment of great courage to secretly write a letter when at the time reading and writing was a crime.

Slaves Gain Freedom

This is a photo that came up within a google search of “freed slaves”. I think this a good photo in the sense that in every photo we have previously seen in post African Americans faces show hardly any emotion and if they are any it looks as if they are suffering or in pain. However, in this photo you can see teeth and what seems to be the start of a smile. This picture is the closest thing that we have seen to a smile in any photograph of any slaves at this time.  Since the word “Emancipation” is written at the bottom of the photo I am assuming that is photo was to illustrate the joy in African Americans lives once they received their freedom. It shows a child with broken shackles, showing a young child excited for being freed. The shackles represent a sense of the breaking of the slavery that just ended. The man in the foreground of the picture has his hands up as if he is praising this freedom along with the women sitting next to him lifting the child up in the air.  In the background of the photo you see many people celebrating as if they have just received the news that they are free. The emancipation of slavery is the reason that all the African Americans were able to rejoice, as seen in the picture above, and finally receive the freedom that they had been fighting to receive for many years.