American Art Collaborative

Thomas Ball was a sculptor who depicted famous Americans such as George Washington and Daniel Webster. One of his best-known works is Emancipation Group, which represents Abraham Lincoln holding the Emancipation Proclamation before a kneeling black slave. In the aftermath of Lincoln’s assassination, Ball created this sculpture to honor Lincoln and his accomplishments. Eleven years later, he was commissioned to make a large public version, which was paid for by emancipated slaves. Ball had served as his own model for the kneeling figure in the first version, but for the later commission he modeled this figure after Archer Alexander, the last slave captured under the Fugitive Slave Act. Emancipation Group has become controversial over the years. Today there are two opposing views of this artwork: on the one hand that the slave is rising to claim his freedom, and on the other hand that he is crouching at the feet of a white man.

Emily Rosales ’16