Art Speaks: Civil Rights

As long as artists have been creating, they have produced works that respond to the world around them. As we look at these works and consider their historical contexts, they speak volumes not only about the artists’ passions, but also about our society. Consider the powerful lessons the following two works teach us about civil rights.

John Quincy Adams Ward (1830–1910),  The Freedman, 1863, bronze,
Amon Carter Museum of American Art, Fort Worth, Texas, 2000.15

With The Freedman, John Quincy Adams Ward addressed slavery head on. Unlike conventional depictions of the time, this black slave is a heroic figure who does not beg for his freedom but has broken his chains through sheer will. The manner in which Ward has sculpted his body and dressed him in a loin cloth connects him to ancient Greek and Roman sculpture that aimed to depict the idealized human form. The Freedman was made in 1863—the same year that President Abraham Lincoln issued the Emancipation Proclamation. The manacles of this piece can be opened and closed, a powerful statement of the still unresolved issue of slavery at that time. What messages about freedom do you think Ward communicates with this sculpture?

As celebrated in his own medium of protest as Martin Luther King Jr. was in his, Ben Shahn made this wash drawing of King in March 1965 during one of the most emotionally fraught periods of the civil rights movement. This portrait appeared on the cover of Time magazine on March 19, 1965, immediately following a violent voting-rights march in Selma, Alabama. Working swiftly to produce the drawing of King by the publication deadline, Shahn referred to photographs that emphasized the minister’s powerful manner of speaking. King’s charisma and influence resulted in the passage of the Voting Rights Act the following summer, guaranteeing the right to vote regardless of race.

These works were created by two unique artists over one hundred years apart, but they still can resonate strongly with us today. What do they say to you and your students?

-Stacy Fuller