U. of Kentucky shrouds a 1934 mural that depicts African American slaves

[Judi Lynn]

Source: Washington Post

U. of Kentucky shrouds a 1934 mural that depicts African American slaves
By James Higdon and Nick Anderson December 1 at 4:59 PM


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Details from a mural inside Memorial Hall at the University of Kentucky. (Mark Cornelison/Lexington Herald-Leader)
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LEXINGTON, Ky. — The University of Kentucky has draped white sheets over a prominent indoor mural here that features images of African American slaves hunched in a field, black musicians playing for white dancers and a Native American wielding a tomahawk near a white settler.

University President Eli Capilouto said the fresco at Memorial Hall was shrouded last week to give the community time to debate what to do about it, in light of persistent complaints from students and others that the artwork presents an offensive and romanticized view of slavery and other aspects of the state’s racial history.

Kentucky alumna Ann Rice O’Hanlon painted the mural in 1934 on plaster laid by her husband, Dick O’Hanlon. Four slaves in what appears to be a tobacco field are central to the composition of the piece, with a scene of a passenger railway placed above them. Other images from the state’s history are arrayed in a work that is 38 feet wide and 11 feet tall.

The mural “sanitizes history, painting over the stark reality of unimaginable brutality, pain, and suffering represented by the enslavement of our fellow women and men,” Capilouto said in a message to the university community. “We can no longer allow that to stand alone, unanswered by and unaccountable to, the evolutionary trajectory of our human understanding and our human spirit.”

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Read more: https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/grade-point/wp/2015/12/01/u-of-kentucky-shrouds-a-1934-mural-that-depicts-african-american-slaves/

[blackspade]

1. I think it should be used as a tool to teach the differences between....

'History' and reality.
It could and should be turned into an exhibit juxtaposing the 'romantic' portrayal vs the brutal reality of how the Old West was lost especially from the Native American perspective.
The reality of slavery in the state should also be detailed; the slave 'farms' as well as the few plantations and industrial enterprises that used chattel labor.

The mural should not be destroyed though. That would be another terrible revision of history. It's images vividly describe the bigotry inherent in American culture.

[dhill926]

7. yep...

[LiberalArkie]

2. They are sanitizing history by hiding it, showing the slaves doing backbreaking work while

the whites all nice and dressed up probably is pretty accurate.

[sulphurdunn]

3. When I first looked at this mural

I saw a representation of a society build upon the backs of slaves, a shameful fact, offensive to some people's sensibilities or not. This kind of censorship is exactly the kind of idiotic bullshit that tosses red meat to weak minded white bigots who look for any excuse to claim they are persecuted because of race.

The second mural is simply another rendering of historical fact. Maybe someone should paint a graphic mural of what the settlers did to the native people, but that is beside the point.

http://www.kentucky.com/opinion/op-ed/article47230635.html

[RobinA]

8. I Saw The Same Thing

It's a shame it was hidden, because it seems to get the point across quite well. Is hiding it implying that white people were not relaxing in fine clothing while slaves did the work?

Also agree on your second point re: red meat. There's a lot of red meat these days, and no good will come of it.

[houston16revival]

4. Nothing to be added here, the first 3 posts nailed it

[apnu]

9. Yes, nothing to add, read the first three replies. (nt)

[romanic]

5. If you erase history because it offends

then future generations will be doomed to repeat history because they never learned from it.

[cstanleytech]

6. Agreed, but you know what they say about the road to hell being paved with good intentions.