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The Germans Used to Pour One Out for the Black St. Maurice With This Drinking Horn
This image is part of a weekly series that The Root is presenting in conjunction with the Image of the Black Archive & Library at Harvard University’s Hutchins Center for African and African American Research. The carefully rendered appearance of this magnificently crafted drinking horn comes from a hand-illustrated inventory of the vast collection of…
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Rings Fit for a Nubian Queen Tell a Deeper Story About Her Reign
The Image of the Black Archive & Library resides at Harvard University’s Hutchins Center for African and African American Research. The founding director of the Hutchins Center is Henry Louis Gates Jr., who is also co-founder of The Root. The archive and Harvard University Press collaborated to create The Image of the Black in Western…
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No Redemption for a Black Slave Keeper
This image is part of a weekly series that The Root is presenting in conjunction with the Image of the Black Archive & Library at Harvard University’s Hutchins Center for African and African American Research. During the long and odious history of slavery, moral objection to its depredations has resulted in many counterstrategies to aid…
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In a Scene of a Harem Bath, 2 Women From Different Worlds Are Linked by a Common Bond
This image is part of a weekly series that The Root is presenting in conjunction with the Image of the Black Archive & Library at Harvard University’s Hutchins Center for African and African American Research. Within the intimate confines of a sumptuous harem bath, two women engage in a ritual of purification unfamiliar to Western…
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Why Greek Goddesses Appear as Black Women on an Ancient Ceramic Cup
This image is part of a weekly series that The Root is presenting in conjunction with the Image of the Black Archive & Library at Harvard University’s Hutchins Center for African and African American Research. The skyphos is a large ceramic cup used by the ancient Greeks for the consumption of large quantities of wine.…
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In the Shadow of the Crucifixion, a Battle of Good vs. Evil Takes Form
This image is part of a weekly series that The Root is presenting in conjunction with the Image of the Black Archive & Library at Harvard University’s Hutchins Center for African and African American Research. In a rocky valley outside Jerusalem, the followers of Jesus gather below his crucified body in a sacred tableau of…
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A Coming-of-Age Scene From Black and White Perspectives
This image is part of a weekly series that The Root is presenting in conjunction with the Image of the Black Archive & Library at Harvard University’s Hutchins Center for African and African American Research. Two young men, one white, one black, have stopped in a grassy meadow, bordered by a split-rail fence, in search…
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In a Scene of Daily Life in 19th-Century Philly, a Black Oyster Vendor Takes Center Stage
This image is part of a weekly series that The Root is presenting in conjunction with the Image of the Black Archive & Library at Harvard University’s Hutchins Center for African and African American Research. In this modestly sized scene, the artist has captured the effect of a fleeting, mundane incident with a convincing effect…
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The Renaissance Tapestry That Tells an African Tale and Doesn’t Exploit Slavery
This image is part of a weekly series that The Root is presenting in conjunction with the Image of the Black Archive & Library at Harvard University’s Hutchins Center for African and African American Research. Woven into the threads of a Renaissance tapestry, early Portuguese explorers’ exotic journey across the Indian Ocean depicted a world…
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Will These Runaways Escape Through the Vast Swamp of Slavery?
This image is part of a weekly series that The Root is presenting in conjunction with the Image of the Black Archive & Library at Harvard University’s Hutchins Center for African and African American Research. As if playing out a savage drama on a vast stage, a slave family makes a desperate dash for freedom.…
Black News and Black Views with a Whole Lotta Attitude
