“The Mutiny on the Amistad” is an art piece that was created by American artist, Hale Woodruff (1900-1980), in 1939. Woodruff used oil pastel paint on canvas to produce this 6 x 10 feet mural. This mural is a collection of Savery Library at Talladega College, Talladega, Alabama and is currently being showcased at the High Museum of Art in Atlanta, Georgia through May 7th. The High is the leading art museum in the southeastern United States and is the division of the Woodruff Arts Center. It is ranked 95th among world art museums, making this place a highly professional and appropriate building to showcase any artwork. Woodruff’s The Mutiny on the Amistad, along with four of his other works, is installed in the High Museum’s Anne Cox Chambers Wing. This piece is asymmetrically balanced and shows more movement and action on the left side of the painting than the right side. Woodruff depicts eleven slaves aggressively fighting and assaulting six of the white shipmen in attempt to escape towards freedom. Starting in the center of the piece, there is a black slave on top of one of the white shipmen and choking him while brandishing his machete as a threat. To the left and right of the mural the other shipmen are being choked and attacked in the same manner by the slaves with machetes. The white men are all depicted incapable and powerless …show more content…
While the faces of the white shipmen are depicted with intense emotions of fear and agony. In the background toward the right, there are two of the shipmen trying to escape on a smaller boat with a concerned and fearful look in their eyes. At the bottom right corner, one of the slaves has passed out or has been knocked out onto a pile of sugar
Both, “The Interesting Narrative Life of Olaudah Equiano” and “Amistad” are important stories about slavery in pre-civil war america because they both address the issues of slavery. These gentlemen in the story made a difference in the slave trade. In “The life of Olaudah Equiano”, Olaudah was sold on a slave ship that came to the Barbados. Olaudah worked for his freedom, and in the end became efficient in American language. He worked his way to the free life and in the end it worked out for him, although it leaves scars on his soul. In “Amistad”, Cinque is a slave that leads a revolt on a slave ship after escaping. When they get to america, Baldwin, a lawyer that is representing the slave and the former president Adams helps free the slaves.
Douglas makes it clear via the figures in the image that there was a feeling of oppression, yet hope. Many of the slaves depicted having their heads hanging, though there is one figure who is looking toward the sky at what appears to the a star, possibly the North Star. There is also another male or female figure who is kneeling on the ground with their hands lifted to the sky. Though these figures are shackled, there is a sense of hope that is portrayed in the image in these two
“Brantley-Newton’s colorful, cartoon-style double-page illustrations, combined with the light tone of the text, convey a feeling of joyfulness that contrasts starkly with the reality of slave life...Hercules, Delila and the other slaves are seen in the kitchen below, smiling with glee as they worked on the cake, evoking a strangely cheerful and exuberant scene reminiscent of a Disney film.” (School Library
It has become evident, more so in our day and age, that children often feel burdened by the expectations that one’s parents have. Blinded by their own pretences, parents pressure their children to follow a path which they themselves think is best. As seen in “The Boat” by Alistair MacLeod, the narrator endures a tremendous amount of pressure from his parents. In comparison to my own life, my parents also put a lot of pressure on me because they want me to be successful. However, I find that the pressure exerted by my parents onto me is not helpful at all. To start, pressure often leads to stress, which then leads to long term complications such as anxiety and depression. Ever since I was young, my parents have wanted me to pursue a career in medicine. I was not very happy as it was not a field that I found
The killings made by the slaves are saddening, too. Mutilating the whites and leaving their bodies lying is inhumane. It is such a shocking story. This book was meant to teach the reader on the inhumanity of slavery. It also gives us the image of what happened during the past years when slavery was practised.
In 1997 a movie called Amistad depicted the true story of a group of Africans that were taken from their families and forced into slavery. Although the movie was heavily criticized for it's inaccurate tale of the terrible ordeal, it gave the story world-renowned attention. The real story had more drama and tearjerker parts then the movie did. If the movie ever gets remade, hopefully this time it follows the facts exactly.
He does this by showing the awful conditions on the transports ships, the savagery of their masters, and the spread of disease on the ships. In an effort to show the terrible conditions of the ships, the author writes,” The fresh air being thus excluded, the Negroes ' rooms soon grow intolerable hot. The confined air, …soon produces fevers and fluxes which generally carries off great numbers of them” (2). The author is directing his document to the general public, as slavery was rampant at this time. He wants to show people that slavery is wrong and inhumane. He writes about how inhumanely the African Americans were selected by the Europeans in order to become slaves for them. The document is a firsthand account, and the author describes being on some on the ships himself while the slaves were being transported. Like the slaves, the author gets sick while he is on the ship. On his time on one of the transports, he writes,”…I nearly fainted, and it was only with assistance I could get back on deck. The consequence was that I soon after fell sick of the same disorder from which I did not recover for several months” (2). This article was written in a time where it was not very popular to be Anti-Slavery, so the author had a lot of courage to do what he did. His neighbors and a few family members were likely utilizing slaves at the time,
One of the amazing things about the story is the level of description and imagery that Douglass uses to describe the suffering around him. The excerpt spans a mere three days, but most of the text focuses on his abuse and battle with Mr. Covey. Douglass skips over the common parts of his life to further his case against slavery. By doing this, the Northerners rea...
Black Holocaust for Beginners “Death Ships”, is a realistic, and trapping article about the slave trade. Instead of the former stories on slavery and giving it a general description telling reader how slavery is bad and slavery is immoral, this article goes in and describes what it was like in a slave ship. It made the reader feel the pain of the middle passage in every page.
...nful portrait of what it was like to be enslaved and travel through the slave triangle.
Rediker, Marcus. The Slave Ship A Human History. New York, New York: Penguin Group, 2007. Print.
Due to the increasing popularity of graphic histories, the story of Abina and the Important Men takes an original transcript and turns it into a colorful narrative. This graphic history recognizes the struggles of the oppressed still facing infringement upon their natural rights after the abolition of slavery in all British possessions. Historians tell this story through the use of graphics illustrated with the use of the original transcript, while providing historical context. Although there are strengths in Abina and the Important Men there are many glaring issues as well.
Throughout the narrative, Douglas gives numerous examples of the dehumanizing violence towards slaves by their masters and overseers. This violence is explicitly described in Douglass’ depiction of Master Colonel Lloyd and his overseer, Austin Gore.
conditions aboard ship were dreadful. The maximum number of slaves was jammed into the hull, chained to forestall revolts or suicides by drowning. Food, ventilation, light, and sanitatio...
The film Amistad is based on a true event that occurred in 1839. It is about a mutiny by recently captured slaves, who take over a ship known as La Amistad, and the legal battle that followed regarding their freedom. The movie begins by showing many Africans chained together on the lower deck of La Amistad. They manage to break free and go to the upper deck and attack the sailors, leading a mutiny and taking over the ship. They leave two men alive to guide them back to Africa, but they point them towards the US. When they arrive in the states, the Africans are thought to be runaway slaves, and are imprisoned. The case of their freedom is taken to court, to decide whether the Africans were originally slaves or free men. One lawyer decides to fight for them, and pleads his case that the Africans were never slaves and were indeed free men. The case eventually makes it to the Supreme Court and a translator is eventually found to communicate with the leader of the Africans, and he tells his story. He was one of many illegally captured in Africa, and sold into slavery. When the time comes for the trial, John Quincy Adams pleas for their freedom. After a grueling trial, the slaves are said to be free men, and are to be sent back to their homeland, Africa.