<I>Trapped</I>
date: label: Date
content: 1965
name: label: Created by
content: Alvin Carl Hollingsworth, American, 1928 - 2000
label: Subject of
content: Unidentified Child or Children
notes: label: Caption
content: Alvin Hollingworth’s Trapped addresses the detrimental effect of redlining on urban African American communities. The U.S. government developed the process of redlining in the 1930s, when the New Deal’s Home Owners’ Loan Corporation created color-coded maps of American cities. Colors were used to assess lending and insurance risks based on the racial makeup of a geographic area. Affluent white neighborhoods were marked with green, while poor African American neighborhoods were outlined in red.
label: Caption
content: The red wooden slats attached to the painting’s surface form a metaphorical fence, referencing the lack of opportunity this system created. When businesses refused to invest in urban areas, it led to unemployment, devaluation of property, and the inability of residents to relocate. Trapped is part of Hollingsworth’s 1960s Cry City series.
label: Description
content: This oil painting and collage shows a lone, shadowy figure against an urban background. Swathed in a shapeless garment, the figure stands alone before a dark background in which the silhouettes of high rise buildings can be seen. There is a yellow globe in the sky to the figure's left. The figure stands behind a high fence. Positioned in front of the fence are vertical bars of wood, painted red. They part slightly to allow the viewer to see the figure. The dark urban landscape can be seen through the bars. On the bars are fragments of white letters.
topic: label: Topic
content: African American
label: Topic
content: Art
label: Topic
content: Civil Rights
label: Topic
content: Housing
label: Topic
content: Race discrimination
label: Topic
content: Violence
setName: label: See more items in
content: National Museum of African American History and Culture Collection
label: Portfolio/Series
content: Cry City
label: Classification
content: Visual Arts
label: Movement
content: Civil Rights Movement
label: Exhibition
content: Reckoning: Protest. Defiance. Resilience.
label: On View
content: NMAAHC (1400 Constitution Ave NW), National Mall Location, Culture/Fourth Floor, 4 052
creditLine: label: Credit Line
content: Collection of the Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and Culture, Gift in honor of Dr. and Mrs. Henry A. Collins
dataSource: label: Data Source
content: National Museum of African American History and Culture
identifier: label: Object number
content: 2011.157
objectType: label: Type
content: collages
label: Type
content: paintings
label: Type
content: portraits
objectRights: label: Restrictions & Rights
content: © Alvin Carl Hollingsworth 1965
label: Restrictions & Rights
content: Permission required for use. Proper usage is the responsibility of the user.
physicalDescription: label: Medium
content: oil paint with acrylic and mixed media on Masonite (TM)
label: Dimensions
content: H x W (Frame): 25 9/16 × 49 5/16 × 2 13/16 in. (65 × 125.2 × 7.1 cm)
label: Dimensions
content: H x W (Unframed): 24 × 47 13/16 in. (61 × 121.5 cm)