Woman standing at the feet of a hanged Black man praying. Men on the left in chains are working at gun point at a quarry and factory. On the right is a Ku Klux Man in full robes that also hide his face. He is pointing toward the hanged man with a group of men behind and next to him. He's holding a long staff that forms a cross at the top, and it's burning.

“South” by Philip Reisman. “Executed for the Public Art Works Project, 1934."*

The South here is portrayed as a place of white terror: lynching, cross burning, Ku Klux Klan. Note, too, the figures on the left: men in chains working at gun point, modern-day slave labor powering industry. The prisoner whose face is visible is Black, the armed guard white. (Click to enlarge for detail.)

I’ve always avoided posting such images, but the history whitewashing of the current administration is making me think differently. This art, at least, is respectful. It depicts the humanity of the victims, unlike the grizzly souvenir postcards circulated by the terrorists.

* Source: NYPL Digital Collections, image 5179787.