…fiat justitia, ruat coelum Lord Mansfield, The Decision in Somerset’s Case, June 22, 1772[1] America is false to the past, false to the present, and solemnly binds herself to be false to the future. Frederick Douglass, 1852[2] The wealthy landowners of Virginia and other southern colonies were fat and happy in 1766. TheContinue reading “The Great American Essay”
Category Archives: slavery
The Legacy Perhaps of James Smithson
by Jerry Leibowitz Knowledge is the pathway from slavery to freedom… Frederick Douglass Ever since the British burned the White House down, there’s a bleeding wound in the heart of town… Bob Dylan, Narrow Way (2012) The most vast and incredible complex of museums in the world sprang from the bequest of a manContinue reading “The Legacy Perhaps of James Smithson”
Bust of Bill Richmond
My inquiry into the sculpture known as Bust of a Man begins with some known facts. There are two similar sculptures known as Bust of a (Black) Man. One is unsigned and is at the Yale Center for British Art. A lesser one, to my eye, is at the Getty Museum and is signed “FrancisContinue reading “Bust of Bill Richmond”
crawlin' from the wreckage 