<I>I have always worked hard in America</I>
date: label: Date
content: 1946-1947; printed 1989
name: label: Created by
content: Elizabeth Catlett, Mexican and American, 1915 - 2012
notes: label: Caption
content: I wanted to show the history and strength of all kinds of Black women. Working women, country women, great women in the history of the United States. — Elizabeth Catlett
label: Caption
content: Elizabeth Catlett was a versatile sculptor and printmaker committed to making art that promoted women, family, community, and equality. In 1946, she received a Julius Rosenwald Foundation Grant to travel and study in Mexico City. There, she worked with the Taller de Gráphica Popular (People’s Graphic Arts Workshop), a printmaking collective primarily dedicated to the production of sociopolitical art. During her stay, she completed The Negro Woman. This narrative series of prints embodies a first-person perspective of Black women, imparting a sense of intimacy and resilience as the viewer navigates a variety of images relating to resilience, heroism, and the ongoing struggle for racial justice.
label: Description
content: This black and white linocut depicts three women cleaning. In the foreground is a woman on her hands and knees scrubbing the floor. Wearing a long skirt and a loose shirt with the sleeves rolled up past her elbows, she holds a balled up rag in her right hand. There is a bucket next to her. Behind her are two other women, both bending over buckets and wringing out rags. Both women wear a calf length skirt and a shirt with the sleeves rolled up. There is a staircase in the background. There is a handwritten title below the image in pencil. It is signed by the artist on the bottom right. The back is blank.
place: label: Place made
content: Mexico City, Mexico, Latin America, North and Central America
topic: label: Topic
content: African American
label: Topic
content: Art
label: Topic
content: Domestic life
label: Topic
content: Identity
label: Topic
content: Labor
label: Topic
content: Resistance
label: Topic
content: Women
setName: label: See more items in
content: National Museum of African American History and Culture Collection
label: Portfolio/Series
content: The Black Woman (formerly the Negro Woman)
label: Classification
content: Visual Arts
creditLine: label: Credit Line
content: Collection of the Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and Culture, Gift of Winifred Hervey
dataSource: label: Data Source
content: National Museum of African American History and Culture
identifier: label: Object number
content: 2017.21.2
objectType: label: Type
content: linocuts
objectRights: label: Restrictions & Rights
content: © 2020 Catlett Mora Family Trust/Licensed by VAGA at Artists Rights Society (ARS), NY
label: Restrictions & Rights
content: Permission required for use. Proper usage is the responsibility of the user.
physicalDescription: label: Medium
content: ink and graphite on paper
label: Dimensions
content: H x W (image with title): 9 1/4 × 6 1/8 in. (23.5 × 15.6 cm)
label: Dimensions
content: H x W (image): 8 11/16 × 5 7/8 in. (22 × 15 cm)
label: Dimensions
content: H x W (sheet): 15 × 11 1/4 in. (38.1 × 28.6 cm)