New York Divided: Slavery and the Civil War
The exhibition, “New York Divided: Slavery and Civil War”, takes an in-depth look at not only the impact of slavery in the state of New York, but the toll that it had on the nation as a whole. The progress ofNew York State came after an era of controversy concerning slavery. The exhibition shows us the struggle of the African American slaves as well as the after effects of the abolition of slavery in New York.
A modern interpretation of the significant of the slaves to the cotton trade is shown in a sculpture displayed in the exhibit. In 1992, Leonardo Drew made a massive sculpture of cotton batting. This colossal piece of art was made from mattress stuffing. It was painstaking made by cutting and rejoining each piece to create a geometric form. This painstaking labor is implied as the forced and free toil of the African American slaves. Their importance is relevant to the slaves who contributed greatly to the source of American wealth.
A strong issue in the time of slavery was the issue of slave-rapes. These atrocities were committed upon women of all ages, and status in the slave trade. A beautiful representation of this issue is displayed in faith Ringgold’s “Slave –Rape Quilt.” This quilt is a breathtaking view of the sins committed against all African American slave women. The stories told on the quilt display to us the horrors of the intolerable acts committed against the women. This work contains the magnitude of the unheard sounds of the women’s objection against their rape and enslavement.
There was also a very interesting exhibit replicating the confinement of a fugitive slave for seven years. Harriet Jacobs was a run away slave who hid in solitude inside a pitch-dark cramped attic space for seven years. This exhibit is an actual replica of the attic and it can be experienced from the inside. I found this to be one the most stimulating exhibit.
In the exhibition, there were numerous pieces of art referring to the act of lynching. One such piece was “Frame” by Whitfield Lovell. This painting was made in 1993, and it displays to us a horrifying image of the lynching of a black slave. These lynching were nationwide and public, and they were murderous acts of violence. This represents the meaning of an African American experience in the slave periods of
New York. There was also another exhibit, which shows us metal sculpture of lynch by Melvin Edwards.
Another very interesting exhibit was that entitled “Rosa Park of 19th Century
New York.” This was a comparison of a 24 year old black schoolteacher to Rosa Park. Elizabeth Jennings boarded a trolley and when the white driver told her to leave the vehicle, she did not. On the trolley it was not indicated for colored people, so the driver told her to wait for the next car, which would indicate “colored people allowed into this car.” When she refused to get off, the driver tried to forcefully remove her, until the police arrived and forcedly thrust her off the trolley.
This exhibition is wonderful interpretation of the African American presence in
New York. It shows us all the different people that took a role in the fight for equality. While textbook can only recite information to us, the exhibition gives us a much more satisfying and intriguing hands on experience and approach to the issue of slavery.