"Slave narrative 'Scourged Back' stirs up America's censorship dialogue"
The iconic photograph known as "Scourged Back," which depicts a formerly enslaved Louisiana man with numerous welts and scars, has become a flashpoint in the ongoing controversy surrounding the Trump administration's efforts to eradicate "corrosive ideology" from federally owned sites.
First appearing in Harper's Weekly in July 1863 as part of a triptych titled "A Typical Negro," the photograph, also known as "whipped Peter," gained traction in the summer of 1863 and was widely circulated, including in abolitionist newspaper The Liberator. The man in the photograph, believed to be named either Peter or Gordon, is said to have fled a Louisiana cotton plantation in early 1863.
Augustus Washington, a renowned photographer, took the famous photo, which was originally produced as a "carte de visite," a small-format photograph commonly sold, shared, and traded during the American Civil War. The photograph has continued to inspire and inform modern artists, such as Arthur Jafa, Kadir Nelson, Dario Calmese, and Viola Davis, and was featured in the 2022 movie "Emancipation" starring Will Smith.
Recent reports suggest that officials at an unidentified national park ordered the photograph to be taken down, along with other signs and exhibits related to slavery. However, the US Interior Department has since denied the report, stating that sites were not asked to remove the photograph. The National Parks Conservation Association and other organizations have voiced disapproval of the potential removal of the photograph.
The Trump administration has begun a wide-ranging review of Smithsonian museums' content, and has signaled that it expects the institution to start implementing corrections around the end of the year. This review has sparked concern among historians and preservationists, who fear that important historical artifacts may be removed or misrepresented.
Despite the controversy, the photograph "Scourged Back" continues to be used in museums, libraries, and universities to educate audiences about slavery in the United States. Institutions such as the National Portrait Gallery and the National Museum of African American History and Culture still own prints of the photograph.
Historians believe each picture in the triptych showed a different individual, not the same man as claimed by Harper's Weekly. This lack of consensus on Peter's escape and even his name adds to the photograph's historical significance and its continued relevance in contemporary discussions about race and slavery in the United States.
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