In Harriet Tubman I Helped Hundreds to Freedom,

1946, printed 1989

<p>Catlett’s linocut suggests the ways in which Harriet Tubman embodied a queered womanhood. For instance, Catlett did not feminize Tubman’s hair. Strong, square lines go down the length of Tubman’s back and to the end of her dress, denoting Tubman’s body as strong, long, square, and spry and pushing her appearance away from the black female body’s characteristically “feminine” qualities, such as plumpness and roundness. Although these characteristics allude to motherhood and health, they are physical features that have historically been used by racial science to “prove” the hypersexuality of black women. Tubman’s dress is the only aspect of her appearance that visibly distinguishes her as a “woman.” </p> <p>Tubman embodied characteristics we are socialized to think only men should and can possess: bravery, fearlessness, and heroism. Thus, Catlett’s representation of Tubman and other women in <em>The Negro Woman</em> series unsettle visual tropes of black female femininity and resist social constructions of black womanhood. At the same time, this representation turns the black female body’s masculinization on its head and adds nuance to what we take to be an expression of womanhood. Within the broader context of <em>The Negro Woman</em> series, Catlett pulls us into black women’s history, forcing us to be part of a radical act of feminist history-making. In short, this piece compels us to confront the history of black female oppression. </p> <p><strong>Imani Noelle Ford, Class of 2018</strong></p>

<p>Elizabeth Catlett’s work was influenced by both her social and political concerns as well as her relationship to Mexico and its muralists, who also reinterpreted and re-depicted their history. According to Catlett, her artwork was meant to “present black people in their beauty and dignity for ourselves and others to understand and enjoy.”</p> <p>This linocut (printed from a carving made on a slab of linoleum) similarly renders Harriet Tubman, the black female abolitionist who was known as the Underground Railroad “conductor.” She helped to free thousands of slaves. <em>In Harriet Tubman I Helped Hundreds to Freedom</em> is one of a fifteen-part series called <em>The Negro Woman</em>, in which Catlett presented a different narrative in each linocut. For instance, other linocuts depict other famous black female pioneers, such as Phyllis Wheatley and Sojourner Truth. At the time she made this series, Catlett was in Mexico and was heavily influenced by the Mexican artists with whom she interacted. This influence, and Catlett’s fascination with Mexican artists’ representation of their past, impacted her feminist reinterpretation and representation of historical black female figures in <em>The Negro Woman</em>. </p> <p>Catlett’s feminist ideologies bleed through Tubman’s linocut, in which she visually suggested the way in which Tubman embodied a queered womanhood. This portrayal of Tubman wears a dress but is hard, unyielding, and traditionally “masculine.” Catlett’s representation adds nuance to what we take to be an expression of womanhood.</p> <p><strong>Imani Noelle Ford, Class of 2018</strong></p>