American art shows us the reality and effects of racism and slavery, and often points the way to social justice.
A beacon of hope, Aaron Douglas’s Aspiration
One of two panels to survive the Texas Centennial, pointing to a future free of racism.
An unflinching memorial to Civil Rights martyrs, Thornton Dial’s Blood and Meat
An unflinching memorial to civil rights martyrs by the contemporary artist Thorton Dial
Martyr or murderer? The Last Moments of John Brown
John Brown has polarized political opinion from the Civil War to the Civil Rights Movement.
Horace Pippin, Mr. Prejudice
The ongoing struggle against discrimination in the U.S. undermined the sense of victory for African Americans in both world wars.
An African muslim among the founding fathers, Charles Willson Peale’s Yarrow Mamout
How a portrait of an African muslim came to hang side-by-side with the founding fathers in one of America's earliest museums.
The triangle trade and the colonial table, sugar, tea, and slavery
Global trade in a cup of tea: Colonial America, sugar and slavery.
Cleaning the museum—maintenance art
The artist asks us if maintaining can be as important as creating.
An artifact of racism: a Connecticut Klan robe
Artifacts like this are key for reminding us of a history of racism that is all too easy to forget.
Work, war, and racism: Bearden’s Factory Workers
During World War II, racism flourished the United States even as the war effort sought to bring people together.
Carving out a life after slavery
This eclectic assortment of carved objects speaks to the experience of a formerly-enslaved man in the post-Civil War South.
A Harlem street scene by Jacob Lawrence, Ambulance Call
Lawrence captures the vitality of Harlem and highlights the issues around access to medical care for people of color.
Painting the Great Migration
Lawrence carefully documents the migration of African Americans from the agricultural South to the industrial North.