Wadsworth Museum
December 8, 2017
My trip to the Wadsworth Atheneum physically showed me how much art is able to write, change, and influence history. One of the first pieces I saw was a picture of a black activist named Angela Davis. Except, it wasn’t really her photo. The description next to the piece told me how after being falsely charged with kidnapping and murder, Davis’s image was shown to the public after giving her an afro and placing a gun in her hands. This fabricated image of a radical feminist/racial activist helped to create the new stereotype for black women. Another image that shocked me was a photograph of a bookshelf holding books titled, “The adventures of a an African Slaver,” “Sapphira and the slave girl,” “History of the Negro Race and Bible Defense of Slavery,” and many more similarly titled. Books like these helped to normalize slavery in early America. Calling the actions of a slaver, ‘adventures,’ seems absolutely ridiculous today, but probably intrigued many young whites at the time. In a museum where each little piece tells a bit a history, there was too much to take in.
In the exhibit of images in nature scenes, one stuck out to me. It was a beautiful image of ‘Reverend Thomas Hooker and Company Journeying through the Wilderness in 1636 from Plymouth to Hartford.’ The image shows them traveling in a beautiful atmosphere in the sun across the land. It imitates the biblical story of the ‘Flight into Egypt,’ portraying the American colonists as equivalent to God’s chosen people fleeing evil ruling. Every piece of art is created for some reason. Those I found in the museum left me with a sinking feeling in my stomach when I realized that is what many people had as influence. Because making art is free both in cost and law, it gives power to anyone who uses it to their advantage. Art tells not just a story, but a history.
By: MelissaScanlon
LC Public History Blog 