<I>Emancipation</I>
date: label: Date
content: 2005
name: label: Created by
content: Kadir Nelson, American, born 1974
notes: label: Caption
content: Artist's statement: "From the ashes of slavery rises the hope of the future of the New African. The older African hangs from an oak tree, bound, staked and crucified, tortured, yet strengthened by his historical role as a subhuman being which was forced upon him by racial assistance of a divine spirit (symbolized by the presence of seven birds). A young child, the New African, stands at the foot of the tree as if having risen from the roots. He glares into the dawn of a new day with a clean slate, emancipated."
label: Description
content: An oil painting the crucifixion of a young Black man on a tree. His body is positioned along the branches and trunk of the tree like the body of Christ, with each outstretched arm bound in multiple places to a branch and his feet crossed at the ankles and nailed to the bottom of the tree trunk. Beneath the tree is the figure of a small child facing away from the tree and the crucified figure and towards a glow of light emanating from the left side the painting. In the blue sky of the background, seven white cranes fly towards the same glow the small child is facing. The painting is signed and dated in the bottom right corner: [Kadir Nelson MMCI (C)].
topic: label: Topic
content: African American
label: Topic
content: African diaspora
label: Topic
content: Art
label: Topic
content: Christianity
label: Topic
content: Identity
label: Topic
content: Religion
label: Topic
content: Slavery
setName: label: See more items in
content: National Museum of African American History and Culture Collection
label: Classification
content: Visual Arts
creditLine: label: Credit Line
content: Collection of the Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and Culture, Gift of Delores A. McNeely (Ozier) and family in memory of Robert A. McNeely
dataSource: label: Data Source
content: National Museum of African American History and Culture
identifier: label: Object number
content: 2021.103
objectType: label: Type
content: oil paintings
objectRights: label: Restrictions & Rights
content: © Kadir Nelson
label: Restrictions & Rights
content: Permission required for use. Proper usage is the responsibility of the user.
physicalDescription: label: Medium
content: oil on canvas
label: Dimensions
content: H x W x D (framed): 48 × 48 × 3 1/2 in. (121.9 × 121.9 × 8.9 cm)