Family Symbolism in Ed Ruscha's Standard?

I recently participated in a "Close Looking" conversation at the Rose Art Museum (Brandeis University) on their visiting exhibition of Ed Ruscha's work, from the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, led by Joe Wardwell and Andreas Teuber and facilitated by the Rose's education director Dabney Hailey. We talked at length about Ruscha's 1966 painting "Standard," or "Standard Station", one of the postwar era's most familiar (and widely reproduced) works of art, and the work from which the exhibition's polyvalent title  ("Ed Ruscha: Standard") is derived.

Ed Ruscha  Standard Station, 1966.

We talked about the 'drive by" quality of the image, the ways in which one could read the image as glimpsed from a vehicle speeding by on Route 66. We also touched on David Bunn's observation that "there are no landscapes without bodies"-- given that in this landscape there are no evident human bodies. But then a colleague creatively observed that the five fuel pumps could in fact be read as a stand-in for human bodies, comprising  a nuclear family of two parents and three children. The two larger pumps on the right could be read as parents, the three smaller pumps to the left (separated off from the 'parental' pumps' by a support pole) in turn could be read as children. The far left pump lacks a (presumably phallic) hose, and thus could be read as "Mother", while the large pump next to it has a pump and thus might be read as "Father"; in turn, the next, smaller (child?) pump lacks a hose and thus could be read as "Daughter", while the final two smaller pumps each have hoses and thus could be read as "Sons."  Thus another possible resonance to the overarching sign about the pumps, "Standard": this is indeed the normative, idealized American nuclear family.

For those in a Lacanian frame of mind, the hoses could be read as instances of the Phallus, signifier of masculine agency within the context of the modern domestic sex-gender system--all the more appropriate given the deep cultural linkages between automotive travel, corporate industrial might, and fantasies of American masculine mastery.

This reading intuitively strikes me a quite promising, and it would be interesting to know what Ruscha himself would think of it. (In interviews, he has noted that the widely interpreted association of the sign "Standard" with the normativeness of dominant American culture is not one he had been consciously aware of while creating these works, although he is open to that line of interpretation.)

 I am tempted to speculate that there might even be an implicit linkage within this image (and the many variations on the theme Ruscha has created) between biological reproduction and the reproductive capacities of the commodity sign in a capitalist context.  Here we may have a protoypical modern, "standardized" family in which the parents have reproduced themselves in the form of their children, at several different symbolic levels.  Each of the pumps, after all, sports the name and image of "Chevron" the most famous product of the Standard Oil Company. Under the modern schema of commodity aesthetics it is in the nature of one brand to beget another, ultimately subsuming all human experience under the arch-signifier of the endlesely-fecund commodity fetish. Thus, direct representations of human bodies would be superfluous in such an image: the logic of reproduction under modern capitalist conditions is entirely enframed with the capacity of the brand emblem ("Standard", which appropriately spans the scene) to spawn subsequent iterations of itself under subordinate brand emblems ("Chevron"); hence, we have before us the perfect family under modern capitalism, waiting, as it were, to glimpsed, and desired, by other families speeding along down the very highway made possible by the petrochemical industry.

42, baseball, and mythic time

 Over the weekend, my colleagues Bobby Cummings, Keith Champagne, and I had the chance to go see the newly released film “42” (opening on the anniversary of Jackie Robinson’s first game with the Brooklyn Dodgers) with the predominantly African American student Living Learning group, “Students of the Dream.” Afterwards, as we talked over the movie,  I found myself thinking about the structure of the film in light of anthropologist Bradd Shore’s classic discussion of baseball symbolism, developed in Chapter Three of his book, Culture in Mind:Cognition, Culture, and the Problem of Meaning (New York: Oxford University Press, 1996).

To begin with, Shore argues that baseball, more than any other sport, dramatizes and mediates core tensions between American communitarian and individualist values.  This is enabled by the curious asymmetry of the game (odd numbers of players, odd number of innings, the striking contrast between a sole player at bat and the entire fielded team that he faces, and so forth) and by the unusual quality of temporal experience during the game, ungoverned by “clock time” , so that a game in principle could go on forever, in an eternal Field of Dreams. These qualities, among others, make baseball especially well suited to metaphorical or mythical reflections by Americans on the nature of  American society.  The emphatically pastoral and agrarian dimensions of the game, played in a “park” and resisting the industrial tyranny of clock time, lend it a generally nostalgic air, generating associations with an endless summer of youth regained, located within a reassuring annual cycle of rebirth each spring.



“42” initially challenge, and then returns to, this standard cultural logic of nostalgia for the era of youthful innocence. The film initially presents the game, in the immediate postwar period, as illustrative of the national affliction of racism. During a rendition of the National  Anthem, the camera pans through the line of players, coming to rest on Robinson for the line “Land of the Free,” to highlight the failed national promise. Taken as a whole, though, the film presents baseball as cure for that which ailed us.  In that sense, the film allows us all a return to a dreamed-of national childhood.  At one point, Dodgers team executive Branch Richey overtly thanks Robinson for in effect redeeming baseball, for giving the sport he loved as a boy back to him.  Significantly, images of boys are prominent in the film; from the African American boy to whom Robinson tosses a baseball from a train (who grows up to be a Major League player) to a white boy who initially joins in his father’s racist jeers at Robinson, but who then pauses, his face transformed, as he recognizes Robinson’s grace on the field.  Through baseball, in effect, we are all returned to pre-Lapsarian era of national innocence.

Elsewhere, Shore has noted that baseball is especially illustrative of  American cultural tensions between home and away. The ultimate goal is to hit the ball out of the park, escaping all confines of one’s environs, in order, paradoxically, to return “home.”  Such a tension is nicely evoke in the film final scene: Robinson, having hit the ball out of the park, lopes around the bases, and rounding third, finally heads, larger than life, for home.  As in all rites of passage, upon returning out of the liminal zone, everything is the same, but everything is different. As his foot touches home plate, he is once more back home, but his home, our national home, is an abode transformed.

The film steers rather clear of the political in any direct sense, emphasizing Jackson’s fierce individualism. At one point, he snaps at his guide and protector, an African American journalist,  that he doesn’t like depending on anyone.  There’s hardly any allusion to the political pressures in the late 1940s pushing for desegregation in baseball or elsewhere in society; rather, this is a morality play of individuals, of Robinson’s stalwart discipline, Richey’s ethical grit, and a few white teammate’s salty (if belated) decency, out of which emerges the collective glory of the team in the 1947 pennant victory, and by extension the restored glory of the republic.  And that is the mythic, paradoxical alchemy of baseball as a ritual system: transmuting individual achievement into collective glory, without necessarily engaging fully with the domain of the social, beyond the borders of the park itself.

Other thoughts on the the symbolism of race, the nation and regeneration in the film?

Museum Statement on Accessibility

Following the lead of other museums,  the MCE has been working on developing a statement on accessibility, to help guide our efforts to accommodate diverse publics, including persons with special needs and disabilities.

Here's our current draft. We welcome comments and suggestions from interested parties:

MCE Draft Statement on Accessibility

Draft  2/5/13

The Museum of Culture and Environment (Central Washington University) is committed to making its exhibitions,  programs, and services accessible to everyone,  including those with special needs. We seek to accommodate a diverse range of learning styles and to engage multiple senses and educational approaches as visitors engage with exhibition materials and public programs. 

The Museum, located on the ground floor of Dean  Hall, is accessible to wheelchair users and other visitors who need to avoid stairs. Service animals are welcome in the Museum,

Working  closely with our Advisory Committee on Accessibility, we explore new forms of assistive technology to deepen the museum-going experience for all. The Museum is working towards developing audio guides, available through assistive devices or mobile phones, for all interested visitors, including visually-impaired visitors. 

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We anticipate that our advisory committee or working group on accessibility will include students, staff and faculty members, and perhaps off campus reps as well.

Literary Landscapes and Multiple Points of View

Frame from A Sense of Place, on
Cascadia Chronicle

At the Museum of Culture and Environment and at Cascadia Chronicle, we have been grappling over effective geospatial means of representing and evoking multiple points of view on a given landscape.  Within a GoogleEarth-type virtual environment, The Sense of Place poetry project (edited by poet Kathy Whitcomb)  in effect sticks virtual pins on varied landscape features in Washington State; clicking on these brings up a poem inspired by that location.  The GoogleEarth platform allows users to navigate themselves through the landscape of Washington State, and click at will on varied poems, identified by author.

[For those with GoogleEarth loaded on their desktops, access the site at:

http://www.cascadiachronicle.com/pages/senseOfPlace/google_earth/current/senseOfPlaceGE.html

Yet how to represent diverse literary or popular commentaries on any given landscape site?   And how to evoke sensations of moving through a landscape, so that the perceptual frame is not simply static at any given moment? (This is, it seems to me,  a limitation with the current GeoStories platform being developed by National Geographic:

http://www.geostories.org/portal/

As promising as it is in many respects, GeoStories is still presents a static, map-based vision of landcape. 

The GoogleEarth flyover effect, which gives the viewer the sensation of flying over a landscape from various heights, has struck me, Kathy, and our technology editor Marco Thompson as potentially more promising, and perhaps especially appealing to younger users; the flyover is an aesthetic register well beloved by many of our students, who spend a good deal of time flying over and through the landscapes of Skyrim and many other landscape-organized video game environments. 

In our current exhibition, "Voices of the River: Life along the Yakima," the Museum commissioned   Marco to develop a flyover sequence down the Yakima River, from its headwaters to its confluence with the Columbia.

 In sequence, five poems about the Yakima River appear on the screen over the riverscape:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_detailpage&v=Q0uKni86flo

Xavier Cavanos poem projected 

 

 

The Beta version currently projected on the wall, partially framed by a wall design feature evoking the basalt walls of the Yakima River Canyon (designed by Theater scene designer Marc Haniuk) has attracted a good deal of  audience response thus far. 

Some people love being able to read the poetry while seeing the landscape unfold around and through the semi-transparent text; others find the configuration too distracting to appreciate the poems fully. Some express a desire simply to watch the landscape in motion, without having to engage with the poems.  We'll keep on tweaking it during the run of the show, and see what version is most effective.

In Cascadia Chronicle (which I co-edit with colleague Kathy Whitcomb) Marco has developed visual essay I scripted, comparing how Woody Guthrie and Sherman Alexie very differently narrate the Columbia riverscape, with particular reference to Native American absence and presence:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_detailpage&v=H2K66pscpZ0

(or, again if you have GoogleEarth loaded, see it at:
http://www.cascadiachronicle.com/pages/geospatialTours/guthrieAlexieTour.html

The visitor can also access a longer, more conventional photo essay I authored on the same topic:

http://www.cascadiachronicle.com/pages/photoEssays/current/markAuslander/current/woodyGuthrieShermanAlexie.html

Still from the Columbia River flyover tour, illustrating
line from Sherman Alexie's Powow at the End of the World":
"past the abandoned reactors of Hanford."

Both the Yakima River and Columbia River projects are organized in a linear fashion; the viewer encounters different perspectives on the river in sequence. In the case of the Columbia River piece, this involves multiple trips up and down the river, encountering how the same riverscape looks very different to the two artists --technological triumph over a vanished Native American presence in Guthrie's case;  a millenarian vision of a reclaimed Native American presence for Sherman Alexie). But perhaps it would be best to get away from an exclusively linear representation and to give viewers, in a more interactive vein, the choice of moving between various subject positions. Perhaps there could be a slide bar on the side of the unfolding landscape in motion, so that the viewer could move between "Anglo" , "Mexicano"  and "African American" literary representations of the same landscape-- and perhaps also have the option of clicking on or toggling to an "Un-narrated" landscape tour. 

And yet, even that approach wouldn't full convey the dynamics of multiple consciousness that so often characterize our experiences of landscape. We can, after all, more or less simultaneously experience a landscape in terms of dominant and subaltern perceptual frameworks. How might we be able to evoke that fluid multiplicity of consciousness of place?

In turn how could we effectively "crowd source" these diverse stories of place, so that the members of the public could upload and share their poems and written reflections on a particular river or landscape site, and edit and organize the developing virtual landscape in a way that would let visitors explore very different contemplations of a commonly encountered place?  Perhaps we will need to move to Augmented Reality platforms, involving mobile handheld devices with screens, to more fully convey multiple points of view on a given landscape feature?

Salmon Woman by John Hoover

In January 2013, in conjunction with the visiting exhibition "FashionStatement: Native Artists and Pebble Bay" as well as our exhibition "Voices of the River," we are delighted that we'll be displaying John Hoover's marvelous sculpture "Salmon Woman" (1987).

My exhibition label is as follows.
----------------

John Hoover

1919-2011

born Cordova, Alaska

American, Aleut/Unangan, Russian

Salmon Woman

1987

Old Growth Western Red Cedar, oil pigment, beads

Loan of the Hoover family

According to the legends and sacred stories of many indigenous peoples of the Pacific Northwest, Salmon may present itself in an animal or human form. In some stories, after Salmon leave behind their physical fish bodies in the upper reaches of rivers, to serve as food for human beings and animals, its spirit can swim invisibly back to the Pacific; under the ocean the Salmon people gather in their human forms.  For the Native peoples of Southeastern Alaska, a beautiful woman manifests herself at the heads of salmon-spawning streams so salmon will return year after year to those same waterways to spawn.

This elaborate version of Salmon Woman was created by John Hoover, an artist of Aleut (Unangan) background. Look closely and you can identify the many animals who draw sustenance from the annually returning Salmon: Bear, Sea Lion, and Seagull. Out of the human woman’s body emerges two large salmon, representing her bountiful gifts of food.  Salmon Woman’s womb is decorated with red beads that symbolize her eggs. Notice that the same red beads were also used to create the the eyes of the woman as well as the eyes of the other animals, thus symbolically binding these forms together.

Coastal First Nations people have harvested cedar trees for millennia, honoring the wood’s versatility and its spiritual significance.  Coastal Tlingit and Salish Shamans were protected by cedar guardian figures, and cedar trees have long been understood as imparting long life and health to communities that honor them.  Carved out of old growth Western Red Cedar, sometimes dating back centuries, Hoover’s work highlights the regenerative gifts of the cedar tree, celebrating cycles of growth, loss, and rebirth.

This free-standing sculpture also powerfully evokes the multiple levels of existence that inform the traditional understandings of the Native peoples of the Northwest Coast: the visible realms of water, land and air, as well as the continuous traffic between visible and invisible domains of the universe.

John Hoover was fascinated by spiritual transformations between human and animal manifestations, a prominent motif in tradition-based Native American art of the region. If you would like to see more examples of John Hoover’s work, in the Museum the lobby you will find a permanently installed, John Hoover carving, “Man who Married an Eagle” (1971). This carving is structured as a triptych that reveals a hidden mystery, the protective outer doors represent an Eagle in birdlike shape, while the inner surface depicts human beings morphing in and out of bird form. 

Mark Auslander

Correcting Mis-impressions re the Post

I've gotten a number of inquiries around the country from scholars curious about the Washington Post article,

http://www.washingtonpost.com/lifestyle/style/researcher-finds-slaves-quarried-sandstone-used-to-build-smithsonian-castle/2012/12/12/381c1762-44a5-11e2-9648-a2c323a991d6_story.html

which reports on my research on enslaved labor in the making of the Smithsonian Castle building.

As is perhaps inevitable in a quickly written story, there are some inaccuracies in the Post article, or at least the potential for misunderstanding on a few points. Among them:

• The assertion that enslaved African Americans did not physically construct the Castle building.  Actually, I think it quite likely, given the Washington labor market from the late 1840s-early 1850s, that some enslaved people did work on the building's physical construction, as they did on hundreds of other buildings in antebellum Washington, including the Capitol and the White House. The point is we don't have direct historical evidence for enslaved labor on physical construction, mainly because so many Smithsonian records were lost in the great Castle fire of January 1865.  We do have stronger evidence for enslaved people working at the Seneca quarry, where the sandstone used in the Castle was quarried. But that doesn't mean we can rule out the use of slave labor in building the Castle.
• Many readers seem to have been left with the misimpression that people at the Smithsonian were not supportive of this research. Nothing could be further from the truth. The Smithsonian Archives staff, especially archivist Pamela Henson, has always been great--sharing ideas and tips and putting in extra time to locate documents and files. It is a wonderful professional archives, a joy to work in.  As I link to in my paper, the Archives has great virtual exhibitions highlighting  the contributions of people like Solomon Brown and Lou Purnell (Air and Space).  And senior Smithsonian administrators have always expressed great interest in and support for this research.  
• The article mentioned that SI officials hadn't called back back to comment, but that may be simply because the reporters were working on such a tight deadline; as is usual practice, a newspaper likes to publish about a scholarly paper the moment the paper is published.
• There was line in the Post article about Smthsonian officials "allowing" me access to documents; I don't know where that line came from. The Archives is of course open to any serious researcher-so nobody would ever not be granted access to historical documents.
• I was quoted as saying that the at the highest level, the Smithsonian hadn't yet begun a 'truth and reconciliation' process about legacies of slavery as such at the institution. When I talked to the reporter, I did emphasize that there are many areas across the institution, especially the Institutional History Division and  the Archives, where people for years have been working hard and bravely to bring the diverse history of the institution to light, especially African American contributions. 
•  It is true  that so far as I know, there has been anything equivalent at the Smithsonian to the US Congress' resolution on the role of enslaved people in building the US Capitol (which included the labor of enslaved men in quarrying building material); Brown University's Committee on Slavery and Justice;  The College of William and Mary's Lemon Project; or Emory University's Transforming Community Project, which led to the January 2011 official statement of regret, by the university Board of Trustees for the university's "entwinement" with slavery.  Something like that is yet to come at the Smithsonian, as it is yet to come at so many major American civic institutions.   As I noted, I do think there is great openness at the Institution's highest levels to working in that direction.  I recognize that such a process will be more challenging at the SI than at private institutions; having said that,  it would serve as a kind of national model for how such honest and healing public conversations about slavery and historical accountability could be conducted. 

I certainly hadn't expected this much public attention to a short piece in an academic journal. The major thrust of my research is actually on race, labor and science at the Smithsonian in the post-slavery period.  I'm hoping to explore the many remarkable stories of African American staff at the Institution, concentrating on the late 19th and early 20th centuries.  The legacy of slavery in DC, Maryland and Virginia is part of that story, but by no means the whole story!

Public History and Smithsonian Slavery

It has been a fascinating day. Late last night, the on line, open access journal Southern Spaces published my paper, "Enslaved Labor and Building the Smithsonian Castle":

http://www.southernspaces.org/2012/enslaved-labor-and-building-smithsonian-reading-stones

Simultaneously, the Washington Post published an article by noted reporter Manuel Roig-Franzia (with help from Megan McDonough) on my paper, "Researcher finds slaves quarried sandstone used to build Smithsonian Castle."

http://www.washingtonpost.com/lifestyle/style/researcher-finds-slaves-quarried-sandstone-used-to-build-smithsonian-castle/2012/12/12/381c1762-44a5-11e2-9648-a2c323a991d6_story.html

As of this evening, the Post article has elicited something like 869 on line comments, and risen to be the second most popular article in the  day's Style section of the Post website. It has been circulated nationally on AP Wire, and seems be showing up around the country.  I've gotten many emails and calls from interested parties, some with very strong opinions on my paper or the Post article.

Many of the comments on the Post website are, I'm afraid, inane or vituperative, dismissing the whole consideration of the legacies of slavery in American society, often re-visiting long running debates over reparations and affirmative action, sometimes with racially insensitive or inflammatory language. Yet some of the postings are deeply thoughtful and sensitive.

For the record, I reproduce some of the more interesting, insightful postings below, starting with the most recent and going back to about 8:00 a.m. this morning (Eastern Time).

SELECTED  POSTS IN RESPONSE TO MANUEL ROIG-FRANZIA ARTICLE

Researcher finds slaves quarried sandstone used to build Smithsonian Castle."  (Washington Post) 

Dec 13, 2012

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washinaustin

8:59 PM PST

I've seen the wills and inventories that list at least 538 people enslaved by my family over seven generations. Seeing those documents, as well as letters, led me to start looking for the descendants of those 538 people. We share part of the same story. 

nyevita

7:58 PM PST

Brilliant work and most provocative. This only makes the Smithsonian a more interesting piece of history! I'd love to hear read more about the work of Mark Auslander.

washinaustin

6:19 PM PST

Why shouldn’t we unearth all of our history? Why examine our past at all, without every peice of the puzzle? 

We need to know who built our monuments, if only to get a broader picture of who built our society. George Washington’s freed his slaves, but the rest of the Washington family – my family – did not. Why? 

I’m examining my family’s history of slaveholding - many other people are looking at their own family's legacy. I want to build a firmer foundation for my own life by tracing the lives of others, enslaved and free. It’s all part of the same story, whether we want to hear it or not.  

Negro Scholar

6:08 PM PST

As a scholar of U.S. history I am quite intrigued by Dr. Auslander's research. The layers of slavery's footprint on this nation, its institutions, and the capital are still being uncovered. Thanks for sharing this important find!

Sylvia Wong

4:36 PM PST

Thank you for this article. It proves a truth about the Smithsonian 'castle' bulding that so many African Americans had only known through oral history. I hope that you will publish more stories about slavery in the hopes that intelligent dialogue will begin to heal the racism and ignorance that plagues this nation.

majorpain

3:06 PM PST

It is good to increase our knowledge and knowing how we got where we are is helpful. Today, we acknowledge slavery as a dark period in American history but it is also just part of the continuum of slavery in its various guises around the world. Slavery exists still. Since slavery was legal at the time, the builders did nothing illegal if they used slave labor. The builders likely had no moral issues with the use of slaves in building the Castle. That was then.  

If confirmed, Secretary Clough should publicly acknowledge this and then move on with the business of increasing and diffusing knowledge.

bcullum1952

1:33 PM PST

Considering the conditions at the time, it is not nor should it be surprising that slave labor was involved. In fact it would have been surprising had it not been utilized. 

But the fact that slave labor was used in no way diminishes the importance of the collections housed there. It only adds to the history of our nation, reflecting a time when social and cultural mores reflected the status quo. Thankfully we now are more enlightened, but still have a ways to go before we are a truly raceless society...from all sides. 

BasicInstinct

1:08 PM PST

As the white father, of mixed-race kids, I can’t afford to turn a blind-eye to such great/valuable information…as detailed in this article. I have the responsibility – as a responsible parent – to teach my children about the past, the better present, and the hope of the future. There is no reason to take offense to history – whether you’re white, or black. It’s history.

E Ferry

1:02 PM PST

I love this article - the use of this kind of painstaking research to raise thorny issues of the role of slavery in the foundation of a great American institution is not only fascinating from a scholarly perspective, but also a great contribution to public discussion.

ndependent27

1:27 PM PST

Are you kidding? This is a hugely important DC landmark that millions of people visit every year. Its mission is devoted to knowledge and education. Reckoning with its own connections to one of the most tragic aspects of our history (and to our foremost Founding Father, no less) is a fantastic teachable moment. It is interesting, informative, and thought provoking. It is also saddening, in a way that good history often is.

highfalls

12:05 PM PST

This was a very interesting article having to do with the history of slavery in Washington D.C.. Nowhere did I notice any type of political agenda threaded through it. It simply reported an interesting history.  

How sad that people from BOTH sides of the equation would choose to advance their own agenda of today based on events of over 160 years ago.

blackspeak

11:27 AM PST

This is about giving credit where its due when it came to how, where to and to what extent slaves were used in building government building. Most would prefer to keep their hands clean when it come to "fessing" up.

RadicalGlove

11:07 AM PST

Some folks seem a bit defensive about the slavery issue. What's that about? If one had slave holding forbears, there is no need for guilt by association. We cannot choose our ancestors.  

Meanwhile, it is a fascinating article. The footprint of slavery shows up in so many different ways.  

Thank you, Washington Post.

concernedaboutdc

10:50 AM PST

So those lazy black slaves helped BUILD the White House and Capital Building and, at the very least, quarried the bricks that became the Smithsonian Castle.  

Everytime a white person stereotypically looks down upon an African American's as being "lazy" they should take a stroll down Pennsylvania and imagine all of the blood, sweat and tears the free labor shed in what has become Americas most famous landmarks.

MDLaxer

10:44 AM PST

Was this ever disputed? Slavery was legal in both Maryland and the District of Columbia during this time. It is any surprise that slave labor was used? 

I think it would have been more surprising to learn that slave labor had NOT been used for construction projects during this time.

astrosmylz

10:32 AM PST

I'm puzzled why folks are so defensive. This article shines a light where it was needed. Some people were unaware of the extent of the slaves' involvement with the building of various buildings in Washington, DC. I don't see any harm in pointing out the fact. In fact, I welcome it. Truth should always be welcome. I was born and raised in the District so I am well aware of the significance of the slaves' contribution to the architecture of DC (as well as other cultural feats). So I applaud the Post for posting such an article. BTW, the article takes a well balanced look. Any attempt to slant the article or point fingers is brought by the reader him/herself -- not the author of this article.

Kolchak

10:26 AM PST

No one is trying to admonish the Smithsonian because slave labor was used to help build the castle, as you mention, at a time when it was legal. However, the Smithsonian's own mission statement talks about preserving our heritage. Right or wrong, part of that heritage is that one of their most iconic buildings was , in part, built by slave labor. If they are going give credit to the architects for their part, they should give credit the slaves that provided the labor and not be ashamed to do so. It's proper and historically accurate. 

The Korean's destruction of the Japanese built capitol is a different thing all together. This happened shortly after brutal occupation and the destruction of Korea's forests and other natural assets. They did not want the symbol of their country to be something designed, built and occupied by their oppressors. 

townhousekids

10:09 AM PST

As a former African American history minor in college, I find stuff like this so interesting. I wonder about the new museum will highlight this.

mausland

10:08 AM PST

As the anthropologist who authored the Southern Spaces paper in question, at 

http://www.southernspaces.org/2012/enslaved-labor-... 

I do want to emphasize, in case a different impression was left, that the scholars and staff at the Smithsonian Institution Archives have always been extraordinarily generous with their time and intellectual energy in assisting me in their research. It is a wonderful archives, and the staff has been deeply committed to helping unearth these important stories. Indeed, as a perusal of their wonderful website (linked to in my article) shows, the Institutional History Division has been at the forefront in documenting and publicizing African American contributions, including the story of Solomon Brown. I believe senior Smithsonian leadership is in the midst of reflecting on how the whole institution can acknowledge histories of slavery & Jim Crow, along the lines of William & Mary College and Emory and Brown universities

B2O2

10:18 AM PST

I have no trouble believing that. The folks at the Smithsonian are excellent, all around. It's a complex history, and is worth looking straight at.  

Thanks for your work!

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Liked by 3 readers

ZZim

10:07 AM PST

I don't see harm with putting a few placards up on the walls here and there. 

"This tree is a bicucatus polydidiadus, planted by Pres. Grant." 

"These rocks came from a quarry that belonged to Whatsisface, grandson of Martha Washington, who inherited her slaves ansd started a quarrying business."

B2O2

9:56 AM PST

I've lived in this town for over 20 years now, and am passionate about history, yet I never realized the White House and Capitol were in part built by slaves. It's interesting how we like to sweep some parts of our glorious history under the rug, all in the apparent name of holding up the "founding fathers" to be godlike figures

highfalls

9:49 AM PST

Very interesting article. I did not realize that upon Martha Washington's death that her dower slaves were inherited by her relatives.

ned21

9:47 AM PST

Interesting article. The structures of slavery are still with us. But, if we are ignorant of the physical artifacts, then even less is known about the cultural, economic, and legal legacy.

Gouvernail

9:45 AM PST

Most pre-Civil war structures in the South and border states likely had direct or indirect contributions of labor from slaves, in earlier structures indentured service by more than one race. It is important to honor the contributions, even now, so that descendants of all races in this country will know that the hands of labor had many hues and many circumstances.

2345leavemealone

9:39 AM PST

It's important to note the contributions of African Americans to the building of this nation. Too often black people are made to feel that they did not contribute to the building of this nation, that they should be more grateful than other groups for being in the US, and that they are "less" American than whites.

ProdigalDaughter1

9:36 AM PST

That's the point-- there have been arguments about whether enslaved persons were used to build the Smithsonian. (It's building has been completely attributed to European settlers and their descendants). 

As stated: "the Smithsonian has been reluctant over the years to address whether slave labor might have played a part in the history of the Castle"

scottandrewtaylor

9:18 AM PST

I think this is very important research from any objective standpoint. I can't understand the comments that minimize the importance of it, even from the nutty point of view that slavery was ok back then. It's part of the history of this area. I'm not a historian, but the Washington area is very important to the history of the US and there are still a lot of stories that haven't been told. I never thought of this as the deep south, but mills along Rock Creek used slave labor, which was in the heart of DC.

Felicia Furman

8:39 AM PST

Thanks to Mark Auslander for revealing another hidden example of the use of slave labor in this country. It would be hard to find any building or infrastructure built before the Civil War that didn't use slave labor. Its hardly controversial anymore except for the fact that many whites still deny the privelege their ancestors seized by exploiting people of African descent. The point is that the US was built on the backs of slaves and formed the foundation of our economy, society and culture. Why are we so afraid to accept the reality of our past?

mgtorres

8:20 AM PST

It is important to recognize and evidence the history that has held up our current institutions. Though this is something we may believe has always been the case Dr. Ausslander work helps us reckon with our own complicities.

Rick Wilson

8:17 AM PST

It is SO IMPORTANT to face our national amnesia about the position of slavery as the economic engine that established the United States and continues to sustain it.. Articles like this help us to face ALL our history - not just the filtered 'good parts.' Hope this is the first of many pieces.

breatheb

8:09 AM PST

it is SO long overdue to give credit where credit is due. This is such a horrible part of our history, but it is our history and should be documented, hopefully so it won't happen again. Stand up and recognize these great men who built our country once and for all! They didn't have a choice, they didn't get paid.. they didn't get health care. They didn't even get respect.  

This must change.  

org2

7:23 AM PST

Articles like this one are important because they shine a light on how enslaved Africans were central to the creation of this country and its economy. If we are to heal the wounds of enslavement and present day racism, we need to begin by knowing the whole story of the U.S. We need more articles and discussions like this one

Hope Amason

6:40 AM PST

Thanks for this article! I can only hope that there will be plans to make visible the history discovered by Prof. Auslander for future visitors to the Smithsonian.

Katrina Browne

6:12 AM PST

efg2: The story suggests it's not clear whether those who worked directly on the building were enslaved, but that it IS clear that those working at the quarry were enslaved.  

The larger point, to me, as a white woman whose family history includes major Northern slave trading, is that it is important to absorb the degree to which enslavement was fundamental to the development of this country. The details of that are everywhere you turn: in the North, the South, the Midwest and West too actually, when you look into it, and yes, the nation's capital. To dig into these details, as Prof. Auslander has, need not be a basis for white Americans to "freak out"--as we often do in a host of ways, but to take it in, empathize with black Americans who feel we never want to talk about this history, and to see where SHARED dismay about the past might take us as we look around today. 

Kudos to the Post for covering this!

Grant Hayter-Menzies

6:09 AM PST

When we as Americans, both north and south, realize that our nation was built by the labor of enslaved persons, we will not only begin to appreciate the work of these many nameless contributors to who we are today but recognize that historical harms still need to be healed. Dr. Auslander is doing what we all should be doing - facing the past and working for that healing, for then and for today. 

Grant Hayter-Menzies (descendant of enslavers from New England and the Deep South)

Carol Maurer

5:57 AM PST

Acknowledgment is key in order to heal historical harms...kudos to Mark for 'following the bread crumbs' and then refusing to sweep them under the rug!

Karen Branan

6:30 AM PST

Congratulations to Mark Auslander for his important research and to Roig-Franzia for giving this valuable story a wider hearing. As a Capital Hill resident, journalist, and ever-hopeful Post reader I look forward to more stories along these lines.

E-Pluribus-Unum

5:23 AM PST

Given the prevalence of slavery in the part of Maryland where the quarry was located, it would be more surprising to learn that slaves were NOT involved in the quarrying and building process. Kudos to Dr. Auslander for "following the bread crumbs" and giving us some "official" evidence. 

What surprises me (though perhaps it shouldn't) is that Smithsonian officials for some reason are reluctant to explore these kinds of issues. History is not and should not be an exercise in celebration and self-congratulation. For history to really matter, we need to grapple with difficult issues. The reality is that Washington was a slave city all the way up to 1862 -- in the 1830s, it was the largest slave-trading city in the nation (thanks in large part to Alexandria, which was then a part of DC). Why are people so reluctant to admit the centrality of slavery to the economy and social life of the city (and the nation)?

 David Pettee

5:21 AM PST

The power of this kind of research underscores once again the fundamental role that African Americans played in truly building up this country. None of us should be surprised any longer about the integral role that slavery played in the construction of much of the hallowed architecture around the District. Why the current tenants of the Smithsonian should have the slightest misgiving about accepting this news is puzzling. What an opportunity for deeper conversation! Doesn't the vision of the Smithsonian involve "shaping the future by preserving our heritage, discovering new knowledge, and sharing our resources with the world?" 

David Pettee 

Boston, MA

sharonmorgan1@comcast.net

5:07 AM PST

This is fascinating information that I will share with the thousands of people who follow my Our Black Ancestry website and FB page. Excellent research!