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Oppression and resistance

the long history of African-American struggle — through art and artifacts

1745 - today

The protest is always the way those who are voiceless speak. And so, I've always thought that protests, in some ways, is the highest form of patriotism, because you're really trying to make a country better.

If you look back in history, you will find these moments of real pain. You'll see riots in New Orleans during reconstruction. You see the destruction of the black downtown in the Tulsa riots. You will see the riots in Harlem in the 1940s. So therefore, this is not new."

— Lonnie Bunch, Secretary of the Smithsonian Institution and founding Director of the National Museum of African American History and Culture.

1. The triangle trade and the colonial table, sugar, tea, and slavery

The triangle trade

By Brandy Culp, Wadsworth Atheneum Museum of Art, Dr. Steven Zucker

Global trade in a cup of tea: Colonial America, sugar and slavery.

2. A Muslim among the founding fathers: Charles Willson Peale’s Yarrow Mamout

A Muslim among the founding fathers

By Dr. Carol Eaton Soltis, Philadelphia Museum of Art, Dr. Steven Zucker

How a portrait of an African Muslim came to hang side-by-side with the founding fathers in one of America's earliest museums.

3. Before the Civil War, the Mexican-American War as prelude

War News from Mexico

By Dr. Mindy Besaw, Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art, Dr. Steven Zucker

Painted for a divided US, people from North and South could identify with this image—others remain marginalized.

4. Seneca Village: African Americans in early New York

A lost history of African Americans in NYC

By Dr. Diana diZerega Wall, Dr. Steven Zucker

The creation of a beloved landmark destroyed a thriving community of African Americans and Irish immigrants.

5. Cultures and slavery in the American south: a Face Jug from Edgefield county

Thinking about cultures

By Dr. Beth Harris, Sarah Alvarez

This jug is one of the earliest known alkaline-glazed stoneware face vessels made by enslaved people or their descendants in the Edgefield District of South Carolina.

6. A dangerous escape to freedom: Eastman Johnson, A Ride for Liberty -- The Fugitive Slaves

The Civil War, liberty front and center

By Dr. Steven Zucker, Margarita Karasoulas, Assistant Curator of American Art, Brooklyn Museum

Johnson paints a courageous African-American family fleeing slavery.

7. Cotton, oil, and the economics of history

Cotton, oil, and the economics of history

By Dr. Steven Zucker, Dr. Peter John Brownlee, Curator, Terra Foundation for American Art

Sail, steam, cotton, and oil — the engines of the American economy.

8. John Quincy Adams Ward, The Freedman

John Quincy Adams Ward, <em>The Freedman</em>

By Dr. Steven Zucker, Erin Long, Amon Carter Museum of American Art

This remarkable work honors those who fought for their own freedom, but acknowledges that the struggle goes on.

9. Carving out a life after slavery

Carving out a life after slavery

By Dr. Alex Bortolot, Minneapolis Institute of Art, Dr. Beth Harris

This eclectic assortment of carved objects speaks to the experience of a formerly-enslaved man in the post-Civil War South.

10. John Brown, Martyr or murderer?

John Brown, Martyr or murderer?

By Dr. Lauren Palmor, Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco, Dr. Steven Zucker

John Brown has polarized political opinion from the Civil War to the Civil Rights Movement.

11. An artifact of racism: a Connecticut Klan robe

An artifact of racism

By Dr. Steven Zucker, Dr. William Frank Mitchell, The Amistad Center for Art & Culture at the Wadsworth Atheneum Museum of Art

Artifacts like this are key for reminding us of a history of white supremacy and terror-based racism.

12. A beacon of hope, Aaron Douglas's Aspiration

A beacon of hope

By Dr. Beth Harris, Timothy Anglin Burgard, Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco

One of two panels to survive the Texas Centennial, pointing to a future free of racism.

13. Jacob Lawrence, The Migration Series

Painting the Great Migration

By Dr. Beth Harris, Dr. Steven Zucker

Lawrence carefully documents the migration of African Americans from the agricultural South to the industrial North.

14. Work, war, and racism: Bearden's Factory Workers

Work, war, and racism

By Dennis Michael Jon, Minneapolis Institute of Art, Dr. Beth Harris

During World War II, racism flourished the United States even as the war effort sought to bring people together.

15. Horace Pippin's Mr. Prejudice

Horace Pippin, <em>Mr. Prejudice</em>

By Dr. Steven Zucker, Jessica T. Smith, Philadelphia Museum of Art

African Americans' ongoing fight against racism in the U.S. undermined the sense of victory in both world wars.

16. Gordon Parks, Off on My Own (Harlem, New York)

Ralph Ellison, Gordon Parks, and Harlem

By Dr. Steven Zucker, Michal Raz-Russo, Art Institute of Chicago

Gordon Parks and the writer Ralph Ellison collaborated to show that Harlem is everywhere.

17. A Harlem street by Jacob Lawrence

A Harlem street by Jacob Lawrence

By Dr. Beth Harris, Dr. Jennifer Padgett, Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art

Lawrence captures the vitality of Harlem and highlights the issues around access to medical care for Black Americans in the U.S.

18. Identity and civil rights in 1960s America: Benny Andrews, Flag Day

Identity and civil rights in 1960s America

By Dr. Beth Harris, Robyn Farrell, The Art Institute of Chicago

Does the figure emerge from the stripes of the flag, or do they imprison him?

19. Politics and humanity in 1970s New York: Faith Ringgold, Ben

Politics and humanity in 1970s New York

By Dr. Beth Harris, Dr. Halona Norton-Westbrook, Toledo Museum of Art

Buttons, flags, and booze — Ben conjures up a specific time and place.

20. An unflinching memorial to civil rights martyrs: Thorton Dial's Blood and Meat

A memorial to Civil Rights martyrs

By Dr. Beth Harris, Timothy Anglin Burgard, Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco

An unflinching memorial to civil rights martyrs by the contemporary artist Thorton Dial.

21. History and deception: Kenseth Armstead’s Surrender Yorktown 1781

Correcting the lies of history

By Dr. Steven Zucker, Kenseth Armstead

How can we begin to correct the lies of history? Artist Kenseth Armstead suggests a poetic solution.

22. Nari Ward, We the People (black version)

Nari Ward, <em>We the People</em> (black version)

By Dr. Mindy Besaw, Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art, Dr. Steven Zucker

Hundreds of shoelaces form just three words. Here, the artist takes an abstract idea and makes it immediate.

23. Titus Kaphar, The Cost of Removal

The Trail of Tears and <em>The Cost of Removal</em>

By Dr. Beth Harris, Lauren Haynes, Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art

Kaphar takes a violent history and renders it visible in this modified portrait of Andrew Jackson.

24. Turning Uncle Tom's Cabin upside down, Alison Saar's Topsy and the Golden Fleece

Turning <em>Uncle Tom’s Cabin</em> upside down

By Dr. Beth Harris, Dr. Halona Norton-Westbrook, Toledo Museum of Art

A Greek myth and the American anti-Slavery novel Uncle Tom's Cabin are combined to upend our own contemporary myths.

25. Kehinde Wiley, Napoleon Leading the Army over the Alps

Kehinde Wiley, <em>Napoleon Leading the Army over the Alps</em>

By Dr. Gayle Clemans

Confronting art history In this large painting, Kehinde Wiley, an African-American artist, strategically re-creates a famous French painting from two hundred years before but with key differences. This act of appropriation reveals issues about the tradition of...

26. The National Memorial for Peace and Justice

The National Memorial for Peace and Justice (Equal Justice Initiative)

By Dr. Renée Ater

The first monument to commemorate the over 4,000 African Americans who were lynched in the early 20th century.

Explore the diverse history of the United States through its art. Seeing America is funded by the Terra Foundation for American Art and the Alice L. Walton Foundation.