Untitled #13 (Trees and Reflections) from "Night Coming Tenderly, Black" by Dawoud Bey (2017) (51-54)

African Americans seeking freedom from bondage undertook a journey from where to where?

Northern US to Canada

When was the Fugitive Slave Act enacted?

1850

What was the Fugitive Slave Act?

A law which required people throughout the country to turn “fugitives” to law enforcement and made it illegal to help runaways

Who coined the term “self-emancipation?”

Henry Bibb

When was the term “self-emancipation” coined?

1853

The coining of “self-emancipation” resisted what?

Legal language equating African Americans and their allies to criminals

What did anti-slavery resistance lead to?

Establishment of the underground railroad Wh

What as the underground railroad?

A network assisting enslaved people in their escape to relatively safe areas in free states or Canada

How did the underground railroad function?

Without permanent infrastructure, it constantly shifted between trusted contacts, safe houses, and routes, and info about it was only transmitted orally

Achieving freedom as a slave regardless of if alone or with the underground railroad required what skill?

Complex wayfinding

What did John Michael Vlach write about Runaway slave freedom?

“Runaway slaves had to look carefully for the most promising places of entry into the Northern states and then cautiously determine the safest routes for further travel.” And must be “skilled at reading and using the landscapes through which they traveled:”

Who was John Michael Vlach?

An architectural historian

What well known images from the 19th century show self-emancipated people?

“On to Liberty” and “A Ride for Liberty”

Who made “On to Liberty?”

Theodore Kaufmann

When was On To Liberty produced?

1867

Who made “A Ride for LLiberty?”

Eastman Johnson

When was A Ride for Liberty made?

1862

What do “On to Liberty” and “A Ride to Liberty” boith show?

Escapees scanning behind them for signs of pursuit

When did self-emancipated people typically travel?WHy?

At night to avoid being seen

Who was ANthony Burns?

An escaped slave who was arrestedin 1854

When was the psoter supporting Anthony Burns made?>

1855

What happened in the ANthony Burns Case?>

It attracted abolitionist support, and ultimately he lost and returned to virginia the following year

What constellation helped african americans northward?

“The Big Dipper”

What is the prope name for the Big Dipper?

Ursa Major

What did African American’s know the Big Dipper as colloquially?

Drinking gourd

How many stars in the Big Dipper point to the north star and can be seen year round?

2 stars

What is the North Star officially called?

Polaris

From ________ to _________ books, popular media have spread the idea that the lyrics of the song ________________________ provided traveler with a specific roadmap to freedom

Folkrolists to children books;
Follow the Drinking Gourd”

Rather than seeing these journeys of self-emancipation as maps its better to see them in what terms?

In terms of a process, where travelers must think quickly while on the move, while constantly evaluating the security of possible routes.

What River formed the border between many slave and free states?

The Ohio River

What was seen as the final major obstacle to cross from slave to free states?

The Ohio River

What artist is known for portraying bodies of water as metaphors for safe traversal of the dangerous landscape for African Americans?

Robert S Duncanson

What was Robert S. Duncansons’ heritage?

Mixed black and European American heritage

Which artist had views of the Ohio River and mapped out the geographies of slavery and freedom?

Robert S. Duncanson

What was Robert S. Duncanson’s home city?

Cincinnati

Which 2 artists produced art which, in a way, portray two sides of the same story?

Robert S. Duncanson and dawoud Bey

Which of Dawoud Bey’s works picks up where Robert S. Duncanson’s Ohio River works left off?

His series “Night CComing Tenderly”

What did Robert S. Duncanson do from his home town?

He mapped out the visual geographies of slavery and freedom in relation to the Ohio River

How long did Dawoud Bey’s career last?

Almost 50 years

When was “Untitled #13 (Trees and Reflections) “ made?

2017

What is Dawoud Bey’s heritage?

American

Throughout his career what has Bey often interacted with?

Representations of black communities

“Night Coming Tenderly, Black” is what?

A series of black and white photographs by Dawoud Bey

Describe the route fugitives took after crossing into Ohio?

Traveling to the cleveland port on lake erie, where they’d catch a boat to the Canada

What was central Ohio in the 19th century like?

Thick forests

What was advantageous about Ohio In the 19th century?

The thick forests provided protection and places to hide

Bey’s photographs select sites where?

The last 50 miles of the route to the cleveland port on lake eerie

Bey’s photographs in his collection “ Night Coming Tenderly, Black” can be described as what?

Haunting, empty, and darkly lit

Bey’s photographs in “Night Coming Tenderly, Black” have which two main themes?

They speak of a voyage filled with peril but also celebrate the resilience of those who make it to the end of the journey

Who took the photograph “Couple Dancing?”

Roy DeCarava

Where was “Couple Dancing” taken?

New york

When was
“Couple Dancing taken/\\?”

1956

Where was Dawoud Bey born?

Queens, New York

When was Dawaoud Bey born?

1953

What was Dawoud Bey’s first major photographic project?

“Harlem, USA”

When was Harlem USA producedd?

1979

When did Dawoud Bey graduate?

1993

Where did Dawoud Bey graduate from? What degree?

Yale University School of Art; MFA (Masters in Fine Arts)

What aawrd did Bey win in 2017?

MacArthur Fellowship

What is another name for the MacArthur Fellowship?

“Genius Grant”

The MacArthur Fellowship is known as one of the most what?

Prestigous art awards in the US

What was Bey known for early in his career?

Protraits and photos of urban black life

What is street photogaphy?

A genre which is made up of informal unposed images taken in public places

Through the mid 1970’s the genre of street photography was made up of what group?

White photographers

Who was a major exception to the dominance of white artists in Street Photography?

Roy DeCarava

Who was Roy DeCarava?

A harlem based photographer known for his images beautify and spontaneity, but also his technical skills in developing high-contrast works with rich velvety black tones

List important street photograpehrs

Walker Evans, Robert Frank, Lee Friedlander, Garry Winogrand, and Roy DeCarava

Who was seen as a pioneer of the Street Photography genre in the 1930s?

Walker Evans

What did Roy DeCarava publish in 1955?

Sweet Flypaper of Life

Roy DeCarava’s work “Swee3t Flypaper of Life” featured work by who?

Text by langston hughes

Which 2 artists were major influences on Bey?

Roy DeCarava and Langston Hughes

The title of Bey’;s collection “Night Coming Tenderly, Black” was taken from where?

Langston Hughes’s poem “Dream Variations”

When was “Dream Variations” published?

1926

Who published “Dream Variations?”

Langston Hughes

What medium is “Dream Variations?”

A poem

List the text which influenced the title of Bey’s work “Night Coming Tenderly, Black”

“Rest at pale evening…/A tall, slim tree…/ Night coming tenderly/Black like me”

What did Bey’s street photography focus on?

Contemporary life

When did Bey’s work turn to black history?

2010’s

What was Bey’s first series on the theme of Black History?

“The Birmingham Project (2012)”

What do the the portraits in “The Birmingham Project” depict?

Six young lives lost in the bombing of a Baptist church in Birmingham, Alabama in 1963

When was the Baptist church in Birmingham, Alabama bombed?

1963

When was Bey commissioned by the Cleveland Triennial for Contemporary Art?

2017

Who commissioned “Night Coming Tenderly, Black?”

Cleveland Triennial for Contemporary ARt"

What was Bey commissioned for by the Cleveland Triennial for COntemporary Art?

Investigate local histories of the underground railroad

“Night Coming Tenderly Black” is not a ________ project

Documentary

Why isn’t “Night Coming Tenderly Black” a documentary work?

He didn’t chose sites that were actual locations of the anti slavery network

What did Bey do instead of documenting the routes of the Underground Railroad?

He created an imagined experience of the journey

Why wasn’t the Underground Railroad well documented in its time?

It was clandestine (secretive) in nature and much general knowledge about its operation is a blend of truth and fiction

Which art historian described the underground railroads position as “at the crossroads of history and myth?”

Steven nelson

The nature of the Underground Railroad as being at the crossroads between ___________ and _________ was an influence for who’s works?

History and Myth; Dawoud Bey’s images

Bey’s works in “Night Coming Tenderly, Black” are visually ________ and ________

Dark and impenetrable

How do the visual characteristics of Bey’s works mimic the feelings the fugitivies must have felt?

They mimick the uncertainty and dread that would’ve accompanied nighttime journeys

Untitled #13 (Trees and Reflections) features a tree line cut off by what?

The upper frame of the image

The tree line in Untitled #13 (Trees and Reflections) is reflected in what?

The gently rippling water of a small pond

The darkness in Untitled #13 (Trees and Reflections) is _________ and _________ forcing the viewer to peer hard to discern details

Eerie and intriguing

The photographers in “Night Coming Tenderly, Black” are printed at what scale? What printing process is used?

Large scale using gelatin silver printing

What is gelatin silver printing?

An analog photographic process which uses silver halides suspended in gelatin to create a light sentitive surface for pritning

When was gelatin silver printing first developed?

Around 1890

In gelatin silver printing what medium is suspended in gelatin?

Silver Halides

The suspension of silver halides in gelatin creates what for gelatin silver printing?

A light-sensitive surface for printing