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Hidden in Plain Sight: Concealing Enslavement in American Visual Culture

Lecture

What’s Happening?

In an illustrated lecture, Rachel Stephens will share her recently published findings addressing themes of concealment regarding the art of slavery. Her book, Hidden in Plain Sight: Concealing Enslavement in American Visual Culture, tracks the ways that artwork was used by proslavery supporters to justify the institution. Stephens will introduce and trace the themes used by artists in support of slavery and discuss a racist history that often involved forms of concealment. She will reveal the development and evolution of these themes as well as the ways that white-produced artwork addressing enslavement attempted to conceal the humanity of enslaved people and much more. 

Dr. Rachel Stephens is an associate professor of art history at the University of Alabama. Her research focuses on the art of the U.S. South. Dr. Stephens spent the fall semester of 2021 as a Virginia Humanities fellow at the Library of Virginia, researching Confederate art in Richmond. She is the author of Selling Andrew Jackson: Ralph E. W. Earl and the Politics of Portraiture and Hidden in Plain Sight: Concealing Enslavement in American Visual Culture.

The content and opinions expressed in these presentations are solely those of the speaker and not necessarily of the Virginia Museum of History & Culture.

In an illustrated lecture, Rachel Stephens will share her recently published findings addressing themes of concealment regarding the art of slavery. Her book, Hidden in Plain Sight: Concealing Enslavement in American Visual Culture, tracks the ways that artwork was used by proslavery supporters to justify the institution. Stephens will introduce and trace the themes used by artists in support of slavery and discuss a racist history that often involved forms of concealment. She will reveal the development and evolution of these themes as well as the ways that white-produced artwork addressing enslavement attempted to conceal the humanity of enslaved people and much more. 

Dr. Rachel Stephens is an associate professor of art history at the University of Alabama. Her research focuses on the art of the U.S. South. Dr. Stephens spent the fall semester of 2021 as a Virginia Humanities fellow at the Library of Virginia, researching Confederate art in Richmond. She is the author of Selling Andrew Jackson: Ralph E. W. Earl and the Politics of Portraiture and Hidden in Plain Sight: Concealing Enslavement in American Visual Culture.

The content and opinions expressed in these presentations are solely those of the speaker and not necessarily of the Virginia Museum of History & Culture.

More about Virginia Museum of History Culture
The Virginia Museum of History & Culture was founded in 1831 as the Virginia Historical Society. The oldest museum in Virginia and one of the oldest in the United States, the VMHC has devoted nearly two centuries to collecting and preserving the artifacts of our past to share the far-reaching history of the Commonwealth of Virginia with the world. Today, this nationally respected museum and research organization cares for a renowned history collection totaling more than nine million items and engages hundreds of thousands of Virginians and other guests annually.
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