Fighting for Freedom

Black Craftspeople and the Pursuit of Independence

Torren L. Gatson, Tiffany N. Momon, William A. Strollo

• Publisher: The University of North Carolina Press
• Year: 2025
• Print ISBN:
  9781469686257
• eBook ISBN:
  9781469683164
• Topic: Art
• Subtopic: African American History

As the companion to the exhibition, Fighting for Freedom places Black craftspeople at the forefront of American history, from before the Revolutionary War through the Civil War and beyond Reconstruction. Delving into diverse narratives of creativity, resilience, and triumph in the quest for freedom, this book underscores the evolution of freedom through the lens of material culture—by exploring how the very concept of freedom was shaped and redefined by enslaved and free craftspeople who relentlessly fought for their rights and the recognition of their humanity.

Featuring ten essays by leading historians, museum curators, and material culture scholars and more than seventy color photographs of Black artistry, including paintings, metalwork, woodwork, pottery, and furniture, this book vividly illustrates how Black men and women persistently sought tangible expressions of liberty which have endured as symbols of their creators’ legacies in the ongoing struggle for freedom.

Contributors include Lauren Applebaum, Robell Awake, Lydia Blackmore, Aleia M. Brown, R. Ruthie Dibble, Philippe L. B. Halbert, Jennifer Van Horn, Alexandra Alevizatos Kirtley, and Susan J. Rawles.

Exhibition dates:
Daughters of the American Revolution Museum (Washington, DC): March 28, 2025-December 31, 2025
Gibbes Museum of Art (Charleston, SC): Summer 2026-Spring 2027
Historic New Orleans Collection (New Orleans, LA): Summer/Fall 2027
Tennessee State Museum (Nashville, TN): Winter/Spring 2028
Museum of the Shenandoah Valley (Winchester, VA): Summer/Fall 2028

Table of contents

• Cover Page
• Halftitle Page
• Title Page
• Copyright Page
• Dedication
• Contents
• Foreword
• Preface
• Acknowledgments
• Halftitle Page
• 1 Artist’s Statement
• 2 Black Decorative Arts Exhibitions, Then and Now
• 3 Carving a Vision of Freedom: Edmonia Lewis and Black Representation during the Fight for Emancipation
• 4 Crafting Community: Cabinetmakers of Color from Saint-Domingue in New Orleans
• 5 Literacy as Freedom: Dave the Potter and the Act of Inscribing
• 6 Considering the Black Laundress as Radical Crafter
• 7 Bred to a Good Trade: Enslaved Furniture Artisans in Philadelphia, 1750–1800
• 8 Robert Duncanson, Painter and Glazier: Enslaved and Free Black Men’s Artistic Production in the Early United States
• 9 State Craft: Robert K. Griffin and the Black American Artisans of the Liberian Senate
• 10 Mestre de luy mesme: François Mentor, Free Silversmith of Color in Colonial Canada
• Exhibition Catalog of Objects
• Selected Bibliography
• Contributors
• Index