The Pietàs of Michelangelo

In the above video is a collection of photographs of the Pietàs and drawings of Michelangelo (1475 - 1564). Michelangelo Buonarroti was the foremost artist of the Italian Renaissance and is regarded today as having without question one of the greatest creative minds of all time.

The Pietàs featured in this video are the Pietà from St Peter's Basilica in Rome (1499), the Florentine Pietà (1547 - 1555), Palestrina Pietà (1555, unfinished) and the Rondanini Pietà (1564, his last work, unfinished) as well as the Madonna of Bruges (1501 - 1504).

Pietà from St Peter's, Rome (1499):

Frederick Douglass, the great 19th century African American orator, writer and statesman, and a former slave, felt there was no need to rewrite the words of the American Constitution for the benefit of the freedom of African Americans. This might strike us as odd bearing in mind in three places in the original Constitution biases in favour of slavery are actually codified:

In Article I, Section 2, Clause 3 representation apportioned between the states is measured by one vote per free man and "three fifths of all other Persons" (i.e. those who aren't free). The ironic thing here is that this was a compromise put in to please the southern plantation states as it obviously boosted their representation since they had the largest slave population; the north on the other hand didn't want to give any representation at all to those held in slavery! The irony of this point, of course, is that if the north had had their way, though their position was as offensive as the south's 'three fifths' position, then the north might have had more sway in government and perhaps therefore slavery might have ended earlier, or without a civil war; as it was the south was given greater representation by this three fifths ruling.

In Article I, Section 9 Clause 1 "The Migration or Importation of such Persons as any of the States now existing shall think proper to admit, shall not be prohibited by the Congress prior to the Year one thousand eight hundred and eight, but a Tax or duty may be imposed on such Importation, not exceeding ten dollars for each Person.". In other words, for economic reasons, because the wealth that slavery brought into the country was recognised and regarded as an important factor in maintaining the security and independence of the nation, slavery would be allowed to continue for a further 20 years, and that a taxation would be imposed on slaves imported during that time, thus providing further revenue for the government out of slavery.

Acticle IV, Section 2, Clause 3: "No Person held to Service or Labour in one State, under the Laws thereof, escaping into another, shall, in Consequence of any Law or Regulation therein, be discharged from such Service or Labour, but shall be delivered up on Claim of the Party to whom such Service or Labour may be due.". This dealt with the problem of escaped slaves fleeing to other states, and put an onus on those states to return the slaves to servitude if discovered by their former 'owners', i.e. that an escaped slave would not be safe anywhere within the union.

One of the great strengths of the U.S. form of government is it's ability to evolve and change. And as people gradually 'wisened up' to the evil of slavery so they were able to amend the Constitution and also bring in new laws to fight the prejudice and bigotry that have sadly played a major role in the suppression of democracy and justice in states within the United States.

First and foremost of these would be Lincoln's famous Emancipation Proclamation of January 1st 1863 which was a first step in committing the Union to ending slavery. Then, during Reconstruction following the Civil War, came three amendments to the Constitution: the Thirteenth Amendment (December 6, 1865) banned slavery, the Fourteenth Amendment (July 9, 1868) defined U.S. citizenship overruling Dred Scott v. Sandford which had excluded slaves and their descendants from possessing Constitutional rights, and the Fifteenth Amendment (February 3rd 1870 ) banned race-based voting qualifications. At the same time in 1866, 1871 and 1875 a series of Civil Rights acts were introduced; these were necessary to counter the racist Black Codes that all confederate states had adopted after the Civil War in an attempt to keep the African American population in a form of quasi-slavery, even after emancipation.

Unfortunately things were to take a turn very much for the worse once Reconstruction ended and Federal troops ceased their post-war occupation of the south in 1877. In particular two Supreme Court decisions, the 1883 Civil Rights Cases ruling and the 1896 Plessy v. Ferguson ruling, opened the door for institutionalised segregation and allowed the 'separate but equal' philosophy to flourish. In both Supreme Court rulings only one justice dissented, John Marshall Harlan, who in the latter case made the famous statement "The Constitution is color-blind: it neither knows nor tolerates classes among citizens." These two Supreme Court decisions seemed to give a green light to the south to reintroduce all kinds of racist legislation that took southern states back to a pre Lincoln era of civil rights (or rather lack of civil rights).

Not till 1954 with Chief Justice Warren's Supreme Court decision in Brown v. Board of Education did things begin to change when the first nail was put in the coffin for segregation with the ruling "separate facilities are inherently unequal". But more was needed to restore full democracy and equal rights. On July 2nd 1964 the Civil Rights Act of 1964 came into law, which ironically contained many of the same points as the failed Civil Rights Act of 1875, introduced 89 years earlier! Then came the still necessary Voting Rights Act of 1965.

None of these extra laws and amendments, from 1854 to 1965, should have been necessary if the sentiment of Jefferson's words in the 1776 Declaration of Independence had been taken literally and seriously, or perhaps written into the Constitution. Though in any case, laws in themselves are not enough to turn around people's prejudices. The recent Jena Six case of 2007 in Louisiana shows that, even with all these laws in place, removing prejudice through legislation alone is an impossible task.

Studying American history it's shocking to realise that African Americans had less freedom, and were more disenfranchised, in the 1950s and early 1960s than in the brief era of Reconstruction of 1866-1877, following emancipation of slaves after the Civil War and the three 'civil rights' Constitutional amendments. This doesn't mean it would have been a barrel of laughs for African Americans living in southern states between 1866 and 1877 needless to say. But it's a tragedy that the freedoms won at such a high price in the Civil War and in the abolitionist movement which preceded it, were subsequently reversed by a stream of racist legislation, the result of which was to institutionalise racism and basically create an apartheid government in the southern states of the U.S.. And it's hard to grapple with the fact that almost a century before Martin Luther King's famous 'I have a dream' speech Frederick Douglass, an African American born into slavery in 1818, had in 1872 achieved the remarkable honour of becoming the first African American nominated as vice-presidential candidate. Clearly between the 1870s and the 1960s the high ideals of Lincoln and others were trampled on with disastrous consequences.


Frederick Douglass (1818 - 1895)

Some of the most eloquent words written or spoken during "the long march of those who came before us' came from Frederick Douglass, a former slave, U.S. statesman and, as already mentioned, the first African American nominated as vice-presidential candidate. On December 3rd 1847 he launched his North Star newspaper, which among many other issues promoted the anti-slavery movement from its columns. The funds that enabled Douglass to found his newspaper were raised by him during a lecture tour he gave in Britain, where he enjoyed tremendous support, in the 1840s. In his autobiography Douglass points out that he had a clear purpose and goal in founding the newspaper, as he explained to his fund-raising gathering in England:

"I told them that perhaps the greatest hinderance to the adoption of abolition principles by the people of the United States, was the low estimate, everywhere in that country, placed upon the negro, as a man; that because of his assumed natural inferiority, people reconciled themselves to his enslavement and oppression, as things inevitable, if not desirable. The grand thing to be done, therefore, was to change the estimation in which the colored people of the United States were held; to remove the prejudice which depreciated and depressed them; to prove them worthy of a higher consideration; to disprove their alleged inferiority, and demonstrate their capacity for a more exalted civilization than slavery and prejudice had assigned to them. I further stated, that, in my judgment, a tolerably well conducted press, in the hands of persons of the despised race, by calling out the mental energies of the race itself; by making them acquainted with their own latent powers; by enkindling among them the hope that for them there is a future; by developing their moral power; by combining and reflecting their talents--would prove a most powerful means of removing prejudice, and of awakening an interest in them. I further informed them--and at that time the statement was true--that there was not, in the United States, a single newspaper regularly published by the colored people; that many attempts had been made to establish such papers; but that, up to that time, they had all failed."

In other words, Douglass realised how important it was to change people's mindset if there was to be any hope to ending slavery.

In the editorial of the first day's edition, addressed to fellow African Americans, Douglass wrote: "We have drunk to the dregs the bitter cup of slavery; we have worn the heavy yoke; we have sighed beneath our bonds, and writhed beneath the bloody lash; - cruel momentos of our oneness are indelibly marked on our living flesh. We are one with you under the ban of prejudice and political disenfranchisement. What you suffer, we suffer; what you endure, we endure. We are indissolubly united, and must fall or flourish together."

Douglass later became an important advisor to Abraham Lincoln during the Civil War though he was initially critical of what he saw as Lincoln's slowness in embracing full and comprehensive emancipation. Douglass recalled, in his autobiography, the tension and anxiety he and others felt on the night of December 31st 1862 as they anxiously awaited the announcement of Lincoln's famous Emancipation Proclamation: "We were waiting and listening as for a bolt from the sky...we were watching...by the dim light of the stars for the dawn of a new day...we were longing for the answer to the agonizing prayers of centuries." Lincoln held Douglass in high regard, as witness the following account, which was verified by more than one eye-witness: on greeting Douglass in the East Room of the White House, following his second inaugural address on March 4th 1865, Lincoln is recorded as saying: "Douglass, I saw you in the crowd today listening to my inaugural address. There is no man's opinion that I value more than yours; what do you think of it?"

In 1841, just three years after escaping from slavery, and eight years before founding the North Star newspaper, Douglass was recruited by William Lloyd Garrison to lecture on abolition for the Anti-Slavery Society. He travelled a great deal around the U.S. and acquired a remarkable reputation for his powerful speeches. According to the Concord Massachusetts Herald of Freedom: "as a speaker, he has few equals…He has wit, arguments, sarcasm, pathos - all that first rate men show in their master effort."

In 1845 Douglass travelled to Britain to escape the fugitive hunters who were on his tale following the publication of the first of his three autobiographies. Even in northern states escaped former slaves were not safe from being recaptured and returned to servitude in the south. Douglass spent nearly two years in Britain, arriving there in March 1845. He lectured across the country, from London to Belfast, and was extremely successful. As well as lecturing on the subject of abolition he also took up and supported other causes including the growing movement for Irish independence from British rule.

In January 1846 he wrote to William Lloyd Garrison from the U.K.: "Instead of the bright blue sky of America, I am covered with the soft gray fog of the Emerald Isle. I breathe and lo! The chattel becomes a man. I gaze around in vain for one who will question my equal humanity, claim me as a slave, or offer me an insult." He was astonished to encounter so little racial prejudice among the British during his trip:

"I can truly say, I have spent some of the happiest moments of my life since landing in this country. I seem to have undergone a transformation. I live a new life. The warm and generous co-operation extended to me by the friends of my 'despised' race; the prompt and liberal manner with which the press has rendered me its aid; the glorious enthusiasm with which thousands have flocked to hear the cruel wrongs of my down-trodden and long-enslaved fellow-countrymen portrayed; the deep sympathy for the slave, and the strong abhorrence of the slaveholder, everywhere evinced; … the spirit of freedom that seems to animate all with whom I come in contact, and the entire absence of everything that looked like prejudice against me, on account of the color of my skin--contrasted so strongly with my long and bitter experience in the United States, that I look with wonder and amazement on the transition."

While in Britain two English friends raised the one hundred and fifty pounds sterling ($710.96) necessary for Douglass to 'buy his freedom' in the U.S. so that he would no longer be a target of the fugitive hunters. Some of Douglass's supporters in the U.S. felt this was selling out in that it seemed to acknowledge the legitimacy of slavery and slave ownership. Douglass on the other hand saw it as a purely practical measure so that he would be free to mount a truly effective anti-slavery campaign in the U.S.. On his return to America he moved with his family to Rochester New York where he launched his newspaper, the North Star.


J.M.W. Turner (1775 - 1851): "The Slave Ship"

Below is a reproduction of J.M.W. Turner's "The Slave Ship" or "Slavers Throwing overboard the Dead and Dying — Typhoon coming on". The 19th century English artist Turner, one of the greatest landscape painters of all time, completed this dramatic painting in 1840, just 5 years before Frederick Douglass made his successful trip to Britain.

The subject of the painting is the horrific practice of 18th century slave traders who would throw the dead and dying human 'cargo' overboard during the Atlantic passage from Africa to the Americas in order to claim the insurance for 'drowning'. By choosing such an emotive subject Turner was firmly aligning himself with the abolitionist movement. In the painting's foreground the shackled limbs of the drowning slaves can be clearly seen.

For this painting Turner was also inspired by lines from 'The Seasons: Summer' by the Scottish poet James Thomson (1700-1748):