Robert Colescott-Correcting American History

According to a New York Times article, Robert Colescott, one of American's premiere African-American artists died recently. Above left is his painting entitled "George Washington Carver Crosses the Delaware: Page from an American History Textbook", which is a play on Emmanuel Leutze's famous painting of George Washington crossing the same river with his troops during the American Revolution (pictured above right).

There are very few piece of art that really speak to me, but this is one of them. Of course Colescott's title is one of irony, as the history these images represent are not in our American history textbooks. His use of minstrelized black images in a famous painting about America's success in the Revolutionary War forces the viewer to think about the role race played in America's financal and political success. Colescott believes that our success can be attributed not only to Washington's ability defeat of the British military. Instead, he recognizes this nation was built on the back of warped understandings of blackness and the abuse of black bodies and labor that resulted (and I would note, not just black bodies in its narrow defintion, but any bodies considered "non-white"). Aunt Jemima, Uncle Ben, the lazy Sambo, minstrel band members-all of these images allowed America to become the nation that it is today. And with his vibrant colors and stark images, Colescott never lets his audience forget this lesson. May he rest in peace.