For the past few years, Ted Smith, longtime Portland Art Museum Visitor Services Lead has been marking Juneteenth by doing one of the many things that he does best--connecting Museum visitors with art and making connections to our shared history of slavery and its lasting impact on our society. June 19th is Juneteenth, the oldest nationally celebrated commemoration of the ending of slavery in the United States. Dating back to 1865, it was on June 19th that the Union soldiers, led by Major General Gordon Granger, landed at Galveston, Texas, with news that the war had ended and that the enslaved were now free. Over two years had passed since the Emancipation Proclamation declared the end of slavery.
While the pandemic continues to keep us from gathering in the galleries together as a group, this year Ted has chosen to spotlight the Pair of George II Figural Candlesticks by Francis Nelme in a video conversation with Ambush, General Manager of The Numberz FM.
Take a closer look at these objects in our online collections - [ Ссылка ]
Ted also mentions a postcard in the video. Postcards depicting and even celebrating the lynchings of Black people after slavery ended were common, and during his research, he found a lynching victim that shares his name. The postcards can be seen here (warning - graphic content): [ Ссылка ]
