Lectures

African-American History Retold…

history_lectureRobin Bradford has long been keeping an eye on the rich and vibrant African-American history in the United States.

For 20 years, she has written and lectured about the subject, never once missing an opportunity to share her knowledge with all whom are willing to listen.

Now, the New York City native will share her research and ideas with the public in a series of 20 lectures on African-American history and its place in the community.

The 20 lectures are designed to reflect Bradford’s 20 years of speaking about such topics. They will continue over the course of the year.

For Bradford, the lecture series is a chance to reflect on the work she has done — and leave a legacy that can enrich the lives of both young people and adults.

Robin stresses the broad nature of history, pointing out that African American history is part of American history, and that American history in turn is part of world history. In order to explore the “Creation of Black Americans” as a part of this history, then, she explained first the approach to writing history in words, and contrasted this method with the construction of history through visual images.

With respect to the written aspect of African American history, Bradford indicated the necessity to strike a balance between trauma and agency. In the past, she noted, histories of African Americans were generally comprised of stories of bad things that white people did to black people; these histories focused on the ways in which slavery cost black people, both psychologically and materially. Later, the writing of history shifted to reveal instead a story of African American agency; it portrayed black people as the makers of history. Today, according to Bradford, written history often combines these two extremes. It focuses on African American agency while at the same time taking note of limitations that inhibited and continue to inhibit that agency.

Writing, though, is not the only approach to history, as Mrs. Bradford illustrated. Visual images reveal elements of history that writing is unable to capture and succinctly show the balance between agency and trauma. African American artists, Mrs. Bradford noted, often explain their art as expressive of their desire to show the unknown history and the unknown beauty of their people.

In previous lectures, Mrs. Bradford showed first “The Janitor Who Paints,” a painting completed in 1937 by Palmer Hayden. The work features an African American janitor/painter painting an African American mother and child. The painting, according to Mrs. Bradford, reveals both trauma and agency; it is perhaps depressing in that the painter must rely on work as a janitor, but it is simultaneously hopeful as it puts him in the position of Creator.

Reinforcing the nature of visual constructions of history, Mrs. Bradford also showed images of two 20th century sculptures of Sojourner Truth. Inge Hardison, in her 1968 “Sojourner Truth,” and Barbara Chase-Riboud, in her 1999 “Sojourner Truth Monument,” both “do things in these figures that we historians simply cannot do,” as Mrs. Bradford noted. She stressed the “heartfelt meaning that artists can put into history.” Artists, Mrs. Bradford said, are able not only to show the trauma and agency of history, but also to show how that history is relevant to and influences the present.

Mrs. Bradford highlighted three specific kinds of images, though, that have not attracted black artists: those that depict the Atlantic slave trade, the American Civil War, and Reconstruction. She showed examples of the few existing images that fall under these categories, and noted how they simultaneously show “what our history might have been and also what it is and might be in the future.” She cited, for instance, “The New Order,” a 1998 painting by John Jones that depicts General Robert E. Lee atop a black horse, next to Colin Powell on a white horse.

Noting that “we make a history depending on what we need to know now,” Mrs. Bradford indicated that these visual images, together with written history, combine to help structure an African American identity.