Search results | Digital Grinnell

Title: "The Unfortunate Persons from St. Domingo" : Refugees from the Haitian Revolution and the Contradictions of Early American Politics
Description: This essay aims to show how the influx of refugees from the Haitian Revolution into the United States was a factor in changing US policies as they related to the practice of human bondage.
Date Created: 2014
PID: grinnell:31902

Title: A Mother of Color on Raising Children with Both Visible and Invisible Disabilities, Ask the Advocate, Episode 3, Mothers on the Frontline Podcast
Description: An advocate with MomBiz Boss and a mother of children who experience developmental and mental health challenges. She speaks about being a mother of color and the experiences of raising children with both visible and invisible disabilities.
Date Created: 2017
PID: grinnell:23737

Title: Am I Not a Man and a Brother?
Description: In this block, the artist has chosen to highlight a commonly used symbol of the abolitionist movement; a slave kneeling with chained wrists held up, begging for his freedom. Created by members of the Clapham Sect of the Church of England in 1787, the image was so popularly consumed, historians have referred to it as a “pièce de resistance” of the campaign. However, the image is controversial to some because of the subordinate and sanitized representation it gives of slavery. Rather than portraying a reality of enslavement, torture, oppression, and resistance, the image appealed to the abolitionist ideals of morality, virtue, and truth. With this block, the artists urges their audience to grapple with the impact that historically sanitized images of slavery can cause, especially on younger generations. By portraying the slave as begging his oppressors for his freedom and humility, the image has replicated the very hierarchy it is trying to combat. Nonetheless, the image is contextualized with historical importance from the role it played in the abolitionist movement. By re-assessing images of abolition and rebellion, the artist urges people to contemplate popular controversies about the glorification of confederate monuments and the legacy of slavery in shaping American national identity.
Date Created: 2017
PID: grinnell:25494

Title: Angela Anderson in Science Classroom, May 5, 1978
Description: Angela Anderson, class of 1979, works in a science laboratory on May 5, 1978.
Date Created: 1978
PID: grinnell:12901

Title: Ann Shimokusu in science classroom, May 5, 1978
Description: Ann Shimokusu, class of 1979, in a science class on May 5, 1978. Taken for the Grinnell Minorities brochure.
Date Created: 1978
PID: grinnell:12902

Title: Chemistry Classroom
Description: Students in a chemistry classroom, undated.
PID: grinnell:12906

Title: Foundations
Description: When confronting the reality of plantation slavery in America, aspects of life which seemed normal in the early 1880’s are often difficult to conceptualize today. In this block, the artist calls attention to the tradition of child raising, in which slaves were given the task of nursing and raising their master’s progeny. It seems counter-intuitive that one could believe a slave so unworthy of human dignity, yet at the same time entrust them with the life of their child. In this block, a portrait of a slave with their master’s baby is framed by a pattern comprised of enlarged images of a human cell, encouraging a contemplation of the hypocrisies present in the theoretical foundations of slavery, including the supposed biological and intellectual inferiority of black people. Most often, slaves bore responsibilities foundational to the prosperity and functioning of their owners; they were worthy of motherhood but not the recognition of full humanity. By featuring a female-bodied slave in this block, the artist also pushes the viewer to contemplate the highly gendered nature of slave work and how it reveals inconsistencies in the theoretical foundations of racial superiority in America.
Date Created: 2017
PID: grinnell:25493

Title: Generations
Description: This block depicts two parallel scenes: the photograph on the right captures a class of school children, and the photo on the left shows a group of people at some celebration. The figures in the photo on the left are wearing formal attire even as some kneel in the grass in the foreground. Is this really a celebration? If so, what are they celebrating? Although it is difficult to ascertain who these people are and why their photographs were being taken, the two photographs call to mind the nonstop progression of generational change. The polka-dots, stars, and diamond-shaped flower petals appear to rotate around the two photographs in a circular motion, creating the sensation of a whirlpool in constant revolution. In what ways do generational shifts impact how we visualize freedom today?
Date Created: 2017
PID: grinnell:25484

Title: Gospel Truth About the Negro Spiritual
Description: Negro spirituals are songs created by the Africans who were captured and brought to the United States to be sold into slavery. This Lecture-Recital was presented by Randye Jones, Soprano & Researcher; assisted by William Tinker, Piano, at Grinnell College, Grinnell, Iowa, Tuesday, November 13, 2007
Date Created: 2007
PID: grinnell:63

Title: Loving v. Virginia
Description: In 1967, the Supreme Court of the United States unanimously voted to dismantle all state laws prohibiting intermarriage, overriding legal restrictions based on race written in 1883. In this block, created by studio assistant Leina’ala Voss, the first page of the Loving v. Virginia court transcript serves as a partial background on which two rings and a set of keys have been arranged; these objects symbolize the bond of marriage and evoke the feeling of a shared home. To the left of the court transcript the artist has placed a net, surrounded by metal nails, buttons, and fragments of colored flowers. Beneath the netting the words “race mixing is communism” appear as a headline above an image of a white protester, his face concealed behind dark sunglasses. This image is juxtaposed against a photograph which shows laughing children and their parents, innocent and unbothered by the chaos which surrounds them. By placing symbolic objects representative of marriage and domesticity alongside a supreme court document and Loving v. Virginia protest imagery, this block depicts how love itself has become a highly politicized issue defenseless against the noxious gass of racism and hatred. This block also reminds the viewer that even today we must not take our rings and keys, and the people we love, for granted; for there once was a time when even the love we feel for our family was unlawful in the eyes of our constitution.
Date Created: 2017
PID: grinnell:25516