Historical artwork will uncover the hidden lessons of
history if we are willing to look and learn.
As America begins to rewrite its history after
years of whitewashing and placing Black people
on the sidelines and rendering them invisible,
now is the time to reinterpret the paintings
of bygone eras. Historical paintings that
included Black people - particularly Black
children in scenes with white people - portray
them as anonymous, invisible background
characters without an identity or a
voice. A reevaluation of history makes
the Black children in these paintings the main
story rather than a side note. We are left to
guess who they are. Who are these children,
and where are their parents?
For example, consider a 1719
painting of Elihu
Yale, the British aristocrat and namesake of Yale University,
which was presumably painted by John Verelst,
a Dutch artist. Yale, who profited from the
slave trade, as did his relatives in New
Haven, Connecticut, is depicted with other
wealthy white male family members in London.
White children, likely Yale’s grandchildren,
are playing in the background.
Standing next to the men is a Black boy, around 10 years
old, wearing a metal collar around his neck.
Although there is no evidence Yale owned
slaves, someone - one of the other men - owned
this child, who was likely stolen from his
parents in West Africa or the West Indies as
part of the slave trade. Including an enslaved
African boy in this painting allowed Yale, a
wealthy white man to display
his high status. As the search for the identity of the Black boy
continues, the painting shines the spotlight
on Yale University’s ties to the slave trade,
and is a reminder of the immense wealth that
poured into London from the kidnap and sale of
African people.
Another
painting, this time from New Orleans in 1837, begs that we ask the
name of the Black boy. Something looks off.
The 15-year-old, an enslaved household servant
named Bélizaire, property of the Frey family,
stands with three white children. However,
Bélizaire is well dressed and appears as if he
has equal status with the white children, a
peer. His skin tone and facial similarities to
the other children suggest he may have been
their half sibling. The Frey family had sold
and bought back Bélizaire, and his image had
been expunged after the Civil War, when White
people rejected intimacy between the races,
and subsequently restored.
Then there were the Dutch Masters paintings, in which
Black servants were portrayed in 17th
century paintings with the Dutch aristocracy. This was the golden age
of Dutch slavery, when the Netherlands was one
of the major transatlantic powers, and was in
control of New York City, then known as New
Amsterdam. At the time, Africans were brought
to the Netherlands as gifts to the wealthy.
One 1650s work from Jan Mijtens, “Willem van den
Kerckhoven and His Family,” shows a Black page in the background handling a
horse, his presence signifying the white man’s
wealth.
Getting to the bottom of who these Black children were
helps us understand the truth about history.
