John Brown's Blessing
Title
John Brown's Blessing
Date
1867
Medium
Oil on canvas
Dimensions
canvas: 84 1/4 x 60 1/4 in. ( 214 x 153 cm )
frame: 89 x 65 x 2 in. (226.1 x 165.1 x 5.1 cm)
Description
John Brown (1800-1859) of Osawatomie, being led to his execution at Charleston, Virginia, December 2, 1859. Brown stops to bless a young black child held forward by a kneeling mother. Two white children, accompanied by their black nurse, look on. Surrounded by soldiers, his arms bound, Brown stands tall and resolute but turns a gentle gaze on the child.
Credit Line
Gift of the children of Thomas S. Noble and Mary C. Noble, in their memory
Object Number
1939.250
Inscriptions
Inscribed on back of canvas: T. S. Noble and John Brown / by T. S. Noble / C[incinnati], U.S. A.
Gallery Label
In 1859, John Brown's planned slave uprising, raid on the federal arsenal at Harpers Ferry, Virginia and subsequent execution galvanized the nation. Abolitionists celebrated him as a martyr to the antislavery cause while southern whites denounced him and his northern supporters. Thomas S. Noble's heroic life-size painting depicts Brown's apocryphal last act: kissing a slave child on the way to the gallows. To commemorate the eighth anniversary of Brown's execution, John Brown's Blessing was publicly exhibited in Boston, where it received a lukewarm reception. A local newspaper reported: "[The anniversary was] appropriately commemorated by the presentation to the Boston public of T. S. Noble's picture of Brown's passage to the Scaffold, when he stopped on his way to bless a negro child
Due to ongoing research, information about this object is subject to change.
The Game of Tight Rope
Title
The Game of Tight Rope
Date
1870
Medium
Cardboard, paper
Dimensions
overall (open): 9 1/4 x 11 1/8 in. ( 23.5 x 28.3 cm )
Description
"The Game of Tight Rope" bi-fold, paper covered cardboard game board; board chromolithographed with an image of four clowns crossing a tightrope above a river with a waterfall in the background, one man is falling into the river and two men are swimming out to a boat in the lower right corner, below tight rope is a numbered grid; board inscribed, "Entered according to Act of Congress in the year 1870, by McLOUGHLIN BROS., in the Office of the Librarian of Congress, Washington./ GAME OF TIGHT ROPE."; Label on the revese of the board with a man walking on a tight rope and the inscription, "GAME OF/ TIGHT/ ROPE/ McLOUGHLIN BROS. NEW YORK."
Credit Line
The Liman Collection
Object Number
2000.723
Marks
lithographed: on the board: "Entered according to Act of Congress in the year 1870, by McLOUGHLIN BROS., in the Office of the Librarian of Congress, Washington./ GAME OF TIGHT ROPE." Label on the revese of the board with a man walking on a tight rope and the inscription, "GAME OF/ TIGHT/ ROPE/ McLOUGHLIN BROS. NEW YORK."
lithographed: label on the revese of the board: "GAME OF/ TIGHT/ ROPE/ McLOUGHLIN BROS. NEW YORK."
Gallery Label
The Game of Tight Rope carries subtle references to America's post-Civil War Reconstruction (1865-1877). Players travel across a precarious rope bridge, trying to avoid plunging into the swift waters below. A nearby rescue boat, piloted by Uncle Sam, carries an African-American child representing the Freedmen's Bureau, an agency formed in 1865 to aid and protect newly freed blacks.
Due to ongoing research, information about this object is subject to change.
Coverlet
Object name
Coverlet
Date
1984
Medium
Cotton
Dimensions
Overall: 72 x 48 in. ( 182.9 x 121.9 cm )
Description
Red and white woven cotton coverlet/throw blanket made for the Society of the Preservation of Weeksville & Bedford-Stuyvesant History; central portrait of African-American woman; four corner reserves picturing Colored School #2; portrait of Rev. Edward C. Africanus; sign referring to James Weeks buying land in Brooklyn; and portrait of Dr. Susan Smith McKinney Steward. Banner above central portrait "SAVE THE MEMORIES OF SELF"; list of historic sites around outer edge; 2" red and white fringe.
Credit Line
Gift of the First AME Zion Church
Object Number
2001.25
Due to ongoing research, information about this object is subject to change.
Frances Wright (1795-1852)
Title
Frances Wright (1795-1852)
Date
1824
Medium
Oil on canvas
Dimensions
Overall: 16 5/8 x 12 3/4 in. ( 42.2 x 32.4 cm )
Credit Line
Purchase, The Abbott-Lenox and Foster-Jarvis funds, and the James S. Cushman Bequest
Object Number
1955.263
Gallery Label
A native of Scotland, the subject was orphaned as a child and raised in London. She came to America in 1818 with her sister, Camilla, and for two years toured the country. The result was a book, "Views of Society and Manners in America" (1821). In 1829 she settled permanently in New York. She became famous for her radical ideas on which she frequently lectured; she advocated equal rights for women, birth control, the abolition of slavery and capital punishment, and equalization of wealth.
Due to ongoing research, information about this object is subject to change.
Mrs. Pierre Toussaint (ca. 1786-1851)
Title
Mrs. Pierre Toussaint (ca. 1786-1851)
Date
ca. 1825
Medium
Watercolor on ivory
Dimensions
Overall: 3 1/4 x 2 5/8 in. ( 8.3 x 6.7 cm )
Description
N-YHS Museum Collection
Credit Line
Gift of Miss Georgina Schuyler
Object Number
1920.5
Gallery Label
Juliette Noel was married to Pierre Toussaint in 1811. She was the daughter of a nurse in a French family, and Toussaint purchased her freedom when she was fifteen.
Due to ongoing research, information about this object is subject to change.
Pierre Toussaint (ca. 1766-1853)
Title
Pierre Toussaint (ca. 1766-1853)
Date
ca. 1825
Medium
Watercolor on ivory
Dimensions
Overall: 3 1/4 x 2 5/8 in. ( 8.3 x 6.7 cm )
Credit Line
Gift of Miss Georgina Schuyler
Object Number
1920.4
Marks
signature: at the right: "Meucci"
Gallery Label
Born in slavery in Santo Domingo, Haiti, Pierre Toussaint was brought to New York about 1787 by Jean B
Due to ongoing research, information about this object is subject to change.
Peter Williams (1750-1823)
Title
Peter Williams (1750-1823)
Date
ca. 1810-15
Medium
Oil on canvas
Dimensions
Overall: 25 x 20 1/4 in. ( 63.5 x 51.4 cm )
Frame: 30 1/4 x 25 1/8 x 1 7/8 in. (76.8 x 63.8 x 4.8 cm)
Credit Line
Source unknown
Object Number
X.173
Gallery Label
Williams, who was born a slave in New York, was an ardent Methodist and served as sexton of the John Street Methodist Church. He and his wife, n
Due to ongoing research, information about this object is subject to change.
Dred Scott (ca. 1795-1858)
Title
Dred Scott (ca. 1795-1858)
Date
After 1857
Medium
Oil on canvas
Dimensions
Overall: 28 x 25 in. ( 71.1 x 63.5 cm )
frame: 33 x 30 in. ( 83.8 x 76.2 cm )
Credit Line
Source unknown
Object Number
X.174
Gallery Label
Born of slave parents in Southampton County, Va., the subject entered the pages of American history as the key figure in the famed Dred Scott case of 1857, which determined that Scott, who had once resided in free territory, was not entitled to his freedom in the slave state of Missouri. This portrait was copied from a daguerreotype made of Scott and his family in St. Louis in early 1857, or from a woodcut based on it that was published in "Frank Leslie's Illustrated Newspaper" and elsewhere.
Due to ongoing research, information about this object is subject to change.
Plate
Object name
Plate
Date
ca. 1946
Medium
Ceramic
Dimensions
Overall: 3/4 x 9 1/4 in. ( 1.9 x 23.5 cm )
Description
White ceramic plate with a molded grapevine border, a gold-leaf rim and an image of the A. M. E. Zion Church transfer-printed in the center; chronology of the church printed on the underside of the plate.
Credit Line
Purchase
Object Number
2000.217
Marks
transfer-printed: on the obverse, below the image: "Mother A.M.E. Zion Church/ New York, New York" in gothic script
transfer-printed: on the reverse: "Historical Facts of Our Church/ Founded A.D. 1796/ First Church built corner of Church and/ Leonard Street 1800./ Incorporated 1801/ First Annual Conference 1821/ Church burned down 1839/ Rebuilt 1840/ Moved to the corner West 10th and Bleeker Street/ 1864. Built new church on West 89th Street/ in 1904. Bishop J. W. Brown, Pastor, 1913-1936./ Removed to the Church of the Redeemer 151-3/ W. 136 Street, 1915./ Began excavation for new church 140-6 W. 137/ Street, July 1923./ Organization of Jr. Church January 26, 1924./ Dedication of new church September 20, 1925./ Dedication of Crypt of Bishop James varick/ February, 1926. Present Pastor, Rev. B. C./ Roebson, 1936. Associate Pastor, Rev. P. A./ Price, 1924."
transfer-printed: on the reverse at the bottom: "WORLDWIDE ART STUDIOS/ COVINGTON, TENN."
Gallery Label
The ceramic plate commemorating the founding of the AME Zion Church may have been made around 1946, the 150th anniversary of the founding of the church. The Church has a long and distinguished history in New York, being amongst the earliest to provide a place of worship for New York's African-American population.
Due to ongoing research, information about this object is subject to change.
Rev. Henry Ward Beecher (1813-1887)
Title
Rev. Henry Ward Beecher (1813-1887)
Date
ca. 1875
Medium
Oil on canvas
Dimensions
Overall: 30 x 25 in. ( 76.2 x 63.5 cm )
Credit Line
Gift of Alice J. Strachan
Object Number
1950.213
Due to ongoing research, information about this object is subject to change.
