MS01.01.03.B01.F25.002

sought to portray the black man's image in a manner which showed human dignity and the rampant ills of the societal order. But such advanced thinking was not [crossed out: the formula of the day]
readily had among 18th & 19th century Americans as most artists during the post colonial period and during the first half of the 19th century
were white mainstream Americans [crossed out: artists] who depicted Blacks in any form other than one of dignity and often
portrayed them in a rather romantic way implicitly inclusive of
the notion of savagery and servitude.

Unfortunately, it was a commonly held notion, one believed
to have been copied fron the popular literature of the time, that
Blacks, during the colonial experience, throughout slavery, into
the Abolitionist movement and immediately following Emancipation, should be looked upon and thusly portrayed in the visual arts,
as being the zestful primitive, the happy slave or the tragic mulatto. Though many American artist sought to portray Blacks as important subjects experienced in the American scene, the less humanely concerned artists found them bountiful subjects for ridicule and
for the creation of stereotypic images. [crossed out: 1]

[crossed out: In this brief talk entitled "A Select Study: The Black Image
in American Art 1700-1900," I shall endeavor to show some of the
images that artists working in America created in which Blacks were
used as principal and minor subjects.]

It is noteworthy to explain that very few images of Blacks appeared in sculpture other than folk forms from 1700 to 1900 and
those which have survived until they were often made to show
exaggerate black features thus creating an unfavorable and
grotesque-like characterization of all Blacks. [crossed out: It is for
this reason that] Since there are many examples to be seen in painting,
I have chosen to concentrate on those black images that are
[crossed out: to be found in American painting] available in this
popular medium.

Since there is no particular style or period delineation which characterizes the works I have selected, I shall, for reasons of