Is It Really Freedom?

Artist Statement:

My visual on ¨Reconstruction¨ is trying to show how the ¨freed¨ slaves felt after they earned their freedom and how the society reacted to them receiving their freedom. The Caucasian southerners did not want the slaves to be free and how they often threatened slaves who said they were free. The slave standing in front of the mirror is supposed to be free however he is shown as a slave because that is how the society portrays and classifies him even though he has his freedom. As he looks in the mirror he sees himself with land & wealth. According to him that is what a freed man should have. But since he did not have this he did not feel free, and even though he had his freedom slaves still were not allowed to even own or rent property.

This matters in my opinion because not many people paid attention to how the ¨freed¨ slaves actually felt. Most people assumed that since they got the title of having freedom that they received what free people got and they didn't. It was also interesting to find out how some of the ¨freed¨ slaves felt because some of them were happy about getting freedom, some were upset about getting freedom and some were confused in what freedom even was. Some slaves were at first happy to hear that they were going to be free soon but after that they were feeling upset because they did not get treated any different from some people because they still were forced and ordered to do things. Some of the slaves were upset because being a slave was what they knew and they were already adapted to the slavery and did not agree with change at all. The other slaves that were confused did not want to be free because they did not know what freedom was. They also would not know the next step after that. They would also be forced to find their own living arrangements, food and way to make money.