I went to St. Michaels to live in March, 1833. I know the year, because it was the one succeeding the first cholera in Baltimore, and was also the year of that strange phenomenon when the heavens seemed about to part with its starry train. I witnessed this gorgeous spectacle, and was awestruck. The air seemed filled with bright descending messengers from the sky. It was about daybreak when I saw this sublime scene. I was not without the suggestion, at the moment, that it might be the harbinger of the coming of the Son of man; and in my then state of mind I was prepared to hail Him as my friend and deliverer. I had read that the “stars shall fall from heaven,” and they were now falling. I was suffering very much in my mind. It did seem that every time the young tendrils of my affection became attached they were rudely broken by some unnatural outside power; and I was looking away to heaven for the rest denied me on earth.
Leonid Meteor Shower
18 inches x 12 inches
pen on paper
2014
Life and Times of Frederick DouglassHis Early Life as a Slave, His Escape from Bondage, and His Complete History to the Present TimePage 97
Unbroken Oxen
Covey the Snake
The Pursuit – Suffering in the woods
Covey Skirmish
The Last Flogging
Parrying His Blows
Held Covey with a Firm Hand
19. Guilty of Wanting to be Free
18 inch x 12 inch
Pen on paper
2014
Life and Times of Frederick Douglass
His Early Life as a Slave, His Escape from Bondage, and His Complete History to the Present Time
Page 152
CHAPTER XIX.
THE RUNAWAY PLOT.
Page 169
five young men, guilty of no crime save that of preferring liberty to slavery,
I was in the hands of moral vultures, and held in their sharp talons, and was being hurried away toward Easton, in a southeasterly direction, amid the jeers of new birds of the same feather, through every neighborhood we passed. It seemed to me that everybody was out, and knew the cause of our arrest, and awaited our passing in order to feast their vindictive eyes on our misery.
We were a band of brothers, and never dearer to each other than now. The thought which gave us the most pain was the probable separation which would now take place in case we were sold off to the far South, as we were likely to be. While the constables were looking forward, Henry and I, being fastened together, could occasionally exchange a word without being observed by the kidnappers
________________________________________
Page 170
who had us in charge. “What shall I do with my pass?” said Henry. “Eat it with your biscuit,” said I; “it won’t do to tear it up.” We were now near St. Michaels. The direction concerning the passes was passed around, and executed. “Own nothing,” said I. “Own nothing” was passed round, enjoined, and assented to. Our confidence in each other was unshaken, and we were quite resolved to succeed or fail together; as much after the calamity which had befallen us as before.
Scholars 37inx28.5in acrylic on canvas 2015_0382
20. The Runaway Plot
12 inches x 18 inches
Pen on paper
2014
Life and Times of Frederick Douglass His Early Life as a Slave, His Escape from Bondage, and His Complete History to the Present Time
The Runaway Plot
Chapter xix
pg 169
In jail we were placed under the care of Mr. Joseph Graham, the sheriff of the county. Henry and John and myself were placed in one room, and Henry Bailey and Charles Roberts in another by themselves. This separation was intended to deprive us of the advantage of concert, and to prevent trouble in jail.
Douglass Learning his Trade
22. Parrying His Blows
12 inches x 18 inches
pen on paper
2014
Life and Times of Frederick Douglass His Early Life as a Slave, His Escape from Bondage, and His Complete History to the Present Time
CHAPTER XX
APPRENTICESHIP LIFE.
Page 183
On two other occasions while there I came near losing my life, on one of which I was driving bolts in the hold through the keelson with Hays. In its course the bolt bent. Hays cursed me, and said that it was my blow which bent the bolt. I denied this, and charged it upon him. In a fit of rage he seized an axe and darted toward me. I met him with a maul and parried his blow, or I should have lost my life.
23. Train to Freedom 12 inches x 18 inchespen on paper2014Page 198But I had one friend–a sailor–who owned a sailor’s protection, which answered somewhat the purpose of free papers– describing his person, and certifying to the fact that he was a free American sailor. The instrument had at its head the American eagle, which gave it the appearance at once of an authorized document. This protection did not, when in my hands, describe its bearer very accurately. Indeed, it called for a man much darker than myself, and close examination of it would have caused my arrest at the start. In order to avoid this fatal scrutiny on the part of the railroad official, I had arranged with Isaac Rolls, a hackman, to bring my baggage to the train just on the moment of its starting, and jumped upon the car myself when the train was already in motion. Had I gone into the station and offered to purchase a ticket, I should have been instantly and carefully examined, and undoubtedly arrested. In choosing this plan upon which to act, I considered the jostle of the train, and the natural haste of the conductor, in a train crowded with passengers, and relied upon my skill and address in playing the sailor as described in my protection, to do the rest. One element in my favor was the kind feeling which prevailed in Baltimore and other seaports at the time, towards “those who go down to the sea in ships.” “Free trade and sailors’ rights” expressed the sentiment of the country just then. In my clothing I was rigged out in sailor style. I had on a red shirt and a tarpaulin hat and black cravat, tied in sailor fashion, carelessly and loosely about my neck. My knowledge of ships and sailor’s talk came much to my assistance, for I knew a ship from stern to stern, and from keelson to cross-trees, and could talk sailor like an “old salt.” On sped the train, and I was well on the way, to Havre de Grace before the conductor came into the negro car to collect tickets and examine the papers of his black passengers. This was a critical moment in the drama. My whole future depended upon the decision of this conductor. Agitated I was while this ceremony was proceeding, but still externally, at least, I was apparently calm and
24. I Suppose You Have Your Free Papers?
11 inches x 8.5 inches
pen on paper
2014
Life and Times of Frederick Douglass
His Early Life as a Slave, His Escape from Bondage, and His Complete History to the Present Time
Page 199
self-possessed. He went on with his duty–examining several colored passengers before reaching me. He was somewhat harsh in tone, and peremptory in manner until he reached me, when, strangely enough, and to my surprise and relief, his whole manner changed. Seeing that I did not readily produce my free papers, as the other colored persons in the car had done, he said to me in a friendly contrast with that observed towards the others: “I suppose you have your free papers?” To which I answered: “No, sir; I never carry my free papers to sea with me.” “But you have something to show that you area free man, have you not?” “Yes, sir,” I answered; “I have a paper with the American eagle on it, and that will carry me round the world.” With this I drew from my deep sailor’s pocket my seaman’s protection, as before described. The merest glance at the paper satisfied him, and he took my fare and went on about his business. This moment of time was one of the most anxious I ever experienced. Had the conductor looked closely at the paper, be could not have failed to discover that it called for a very different looking person from myself, and in that case it would have been his duty to arrest me on the instant, and send me back to Baltimore from the first station.
25. Captain McGowan Didn’t See Me
7 foot x 6 foot
Charcoal, ink, acrylic on Canvas
2014
Life and Times of Frederick Douglass
His Early Life as a Slave, His Escape from Bondage, and His Complete History to the Present Time
SECOND PART
CHAPTER 1
ESCAPE FROM SLAVERY
Page 200
Only a few days before I had been at work on a revenue cutter, in Mr. Price’s ship-yard, under the care of Captain McGowan. On the meeting at this point of the two trains, the one going south stopped on the track just opposite to the one going north, and it so happened that this Captain McGowan sat at a window where he could see me very distinctly, and would certainly have recognized me had he looked at me but for a second. Fortunately, in the hurry of the moment, he did not see me; and the trains soon passed each other on their respective ways.
26. Our Wedding NIght
11 inches x 9 inches
charcoal and pen on paper
2014
So on the day of the marriage ceremony, we took our little luggage to the steamer John W. Richmond, which at that time was one of the line running between New York and Newport, R. I. Forty-three years ago colored travelers were not permitted in the cabin, nor allowed abaft the paddle-wheels of a steam vessel. They were compelled, whatever the weather might be, whether cold or hot, wet or dry, to spend the night on deck. Unjust as this regulation was, it did not trouble us much. We had fared much harder before. We arrived at Newport the next morning, and soon after an old-fashioned stage-coach
So on the day of the marriage ceremony, we took our little luggage to the steamer John W. Richmond, which at that time was one of the line running between New York and Newport, R. I. Forty-three years ago colored travelers were not permitted in the cabin, nor allowed abaft the paddle-wheels of a steam vessel. They were compelled, whatever the weather might be, whether cold or hot, wet or dry, to spend the night on deck. Unjust as this regulation was, it did not trouble us much. We had fared much harder before. We arrived at Newport the next morning, and soon after an old-fashioned stage-coach
27. Would-Be Judas. 9 inches x 11.25 inches Pen on paper2014 part 2 CHAPTER II.LIFE AS A FREEMAN.pp 209-210A threat was once made by a colored man to inform a southern master where his runaway slave could be found. As soon as this threat became known to the colored people they were furious. A notice wasPage 210read from the pulpit of the Third Christian church (colored) for a public meeting when important business would be transacted (not stating what the important business was). In the meantime special measures had been taken to secure the attendance of the would-be Judas, and these had proved successful, for when the hour of meeting arrived, ignorant of the object for which they were called together, the offender was promptly in attendance. All the usual formalities were gone through with, the prayer, appointments of president, secretaries, etc. Then the president, with an air of great solemnity, rose and said: “Well, friends and brethren, we have got him here, and I would recommend that you, young men, should take him outside the door and kill him.” This was enough; there was a rush for the villain, who would probably have been killed but for his escape by an open window. He was never seen again in New Bedford.
Frederick Douglass the Man
36 inches x 86 inches
Charcoal on paper
2014
Drawn from an 1841 dauggereotype of Douglass.
Douglass the Man Acrylic on Canvas
The Reading Lesson
Captured at Holeur’s Fashionable Bakery
Bakery Abduction
Captured at Holeur’s Fashionable Bakery
8.5″ x 7.0625″
Pen on Paper
2008
1st & State Street
Priest working on Nalle series painting – 1st & State Street in progress
Drop Him!, Catch Him! Pen on Paper
7.5″ x 11.25″
2009
Drop Him!, Catch Him!,
8′ x 4’7″
Acrylic on Canvas
2008
The Altruist (pen on paper)
The Struggle
The Altruist
The Altruist
The Altruist
1000 Person Street Shuffle
86′ x 72″
Acrylic on Canvas
2010
NALLE SERIES 1860 Many slaves were the children of their white masters. This was the situation in the case of a man named Charles Nalle. It is believed that his slave owner Peter Hansborough impregnated his mother, and when he died his property was passed down to his white son Blucher. That property included ownership of his half brother, Charles. He was from Culpepper County, Virginia and escaped in October of 1858 and settled in Sandlake, New York. His owner was given a tip as to his brother’s whereabouts and he set out in hot pursuit of Charles. Charles was apprehended in Troy, New York, an abolitionist town. Harriet Tubman happened to be in Troy, visiting cousins, The Bowleys. When Harriet heard the news she went straight to the office of the U.S. Commissioner, where Charles was being detained. News of the event spread quickly. And soon an excited crowd gathered around the office, while supporters of both freedom and slavery stood outside waiting to see the outcome. Charles was brought out, and the crowd, which by this time had grown to 1000 in number fought with police and their supporters to free Charles Nalle.
4. Don’t Let Them Have Him 68″ x 69″,Acrylic on Canvas 2015$35,000.00
Acrylic on Canva
Don’t Let Them Have Him!
Pen on paper
8″ X 7 1/8″
2008
Nalle Crossing the Hudson
Pen on Paper
8.5″ x 7.125″
2007
Nalle Crossing the Hudson
Acrylic on canvas
71.5″ x 62″
2008
Escape to West Troy Pen on Paper8.5″ x 7.0625″2007
Ferry Crossing Pen on paper11.25″ x 15″2008
Ferry Crossing 5′ x 5’Acrylic on Canvas2008
Martin Struck by Deputy Sheriff Morrison
Pen on paper
7″ x 8.5″
2008
Martin Struck by Deputy Sheriff Morrison
58 x 57
Acrylic on canvas
2014
Muskrat Traps Woodcut 16″ x 16″2008As a young girl Harriet was hired out to another slave owner. She was given the winter task of wading out into the cold marsh waters and setting muskrat traps.
Leonid Meteor Shower of 1833 Acrylic on Canvas3.5′ x 6’2008-091833In 1833 a particularly unique meteor storm, caused by the comet Tempel Tuttle, passing through the inner solar system on its 33-year orbit around the Sun was most spectacular. The annual Leonid meteor shower, which is the dust trail from the comet Tempel Tuttle, put on a particularly spectacular show on the night of November 12. Tubman, as well as many others who saw the stars shooting across the sky, thought it was the end of the world.
Bucktown: Bruising in the Head Pen on Paper 6.5″ x 5″2009While in her teens, Araminta was struck on the front of her head by a two-pound iron weight, which cracked her skull, almost killing her. She suffered from serious side affects for the rest of her life. ÊÊOn this particular occasion, an overseer was in hot pursuit of a runaway slave. The overseer caught up with him at the Bucktown Village Store, near Cambridge Maryland. Harriet happened to be in the store, and was told to grab the slave. She took no part in apprehending the man. As the man ran past her, the overseer tried to fell the man with a two-pound weight. Instead of striking his intended target, he hit Harriet with a powerful blow to the head.
Horace Averill’s Betrayal
painting
Bucktown Bruising in the Head
12” x 16”
Acrylic on Canvas
2007
1834-1836
While in her teens, Araminta was struck on the front of her head by a two-pound iron weight, which cracked her skull, almost killing her. She suffered from serious side affects for the rest of her life. On this particular occasion, an overseer was in hot pursuit of a runaway slave. The overseer caught up with him at the Bucktown Village Store, near Cambridge Maryland. Harriet happened to be in the store, and was told to grab the slave. She took no part in apprehending the man. As the man ran past her, the overseer tried to fell the man with a two-pound weight. Instead of striking his intended target, he hit Harriet with a powerful blow to the head.
Bucktown Store Skirmish
Acrylic on Masonite
12Ó x 16Ó
2007
Date of Event: 1834-1836While in her teens, Araminta was struck on the front of her head by a two-pound iron weight, which cracked her skull, almost killing her. She suffered from serious side affects for the rest of her life. ÊÊOn this particular occasion, an overseer was in hot pursuit of a runaway slave. The overseer caught up with him at the Bucktown Village Store, near Cambridge Maryland. Harriet happened to be in the store, and was told to grab the slave. She took no part in apprehending the man. As the man ran past her, the overseer tried to fell the man with a two-pound weight. Instead of striking his intended target, he hit Harriet with a powerful blow to the head.
Timber Crew
Old Ben and Harriet
The Auction (Dorchester count)
Acrylic on Canvas
2008
51″ x 58 “
Escape From Poplar Neck Injet Print 32″ x 17″20071857 With the threat of Harriet’s father, Ben Ross. being thrown in jail for suspicion of aiding runaway slaves; Harriet made arrangements to rescue her parents. “She brought away her aged parents in a singular manner. They started with an old horse, fitted out in primitive style with a straw collar, a pair of old chaise wheels, with a board on the axle to sit on, another board swung with ropes, fastened to the axle, to rest their feet on. She got her parents, turned Jehu herself, and drove to town in a style that no human being ever did before or since. “Excerpt from Scenes in the Life of Harriet Tubman. Sarah H. Bradford, Auburn, N. Y. W. J. Moses, Printer1869. p52.
Check Point
Wilmington: Market Street Bridge
Acrylic on Canvas61″ x 37″20081856As Joe, his brother, Bill, Peter Pennington and Eliza Manokey approached Wilmington Delaware, they were warned of impending danger that lay only feet away, as they approached the Market Street Bridge. Thomas Garrett, a Quaker, who turned his home in Wilmington into the last station on the UGRR before the slaves reached freedom in Pennsylvania heard of the heavy police patrols at all routes into the city of Wilmington DE, “he thus formed a plan. He engaged two wagons, filled them with bricklayers, whom of course he paid well for their share in the enterprise, and sent them across the bridge. They went as if on a frolic, singing and shouting. The guards saw them pass, and of course expected them to re-cross the bridge. After nightfall (and fortunately it was a dark night) the same wagons went back, but with an addition to their party. The fugitives were on the bottom of the wagons, the bricklayers on the seats, still singing and shouting; and so they passed by the guards, who were entirely unsuspicious of the nature of the load the wagons contained, or of the amount of property thus escaping their hands. ” Excerpt from Scenes in the Life of Harriet Tubman. Sarah H. Bradford, Auburn, N. Y. W. J. Moses, Printer 1869. p31.
Escape From Jamaica Point
83Ó x 56Ó, 2008
1856
Joe passed into the hands of his new master. Joe was somewhat surprised when the first order issued from his master’s lips, was, “Now, Joe, strip and take a whipping!”
ÊÊÊÊÊÊÊÊ “Mas’r,” said he, “habn’t I always been faithful to you? Habn’t I worked through sun an’ rain, early in de mornin’, and late at night; habn’t I saved you an oberseer by doin’ his work; hab you anyting to complain of agin me?”
ÊÊÊÊÊÊÊÊ “No, Joe; “I’ve no complaint to make of you; you’re a good nigger, and you’ve always worked well; but the first lesson my niggers have to learn is that I am master, and that they are not to resist or refuse to obey anything I tell ’em to do. So the first thing they’ve got to do, is to be whipped; if they resist, they got it all the harder; and so I’ll go on, till I kill ’em, but they’ve got to give up at last, and learn that I’m master.”
ÊÊÊÊÊÊÊÊ Joe stripped off his upper clothing, and took his whipping, without a word; but as he drew his clothes up over his torn and bleeding back, he said, “Dis is de last!” Excerpt from Scenes in the Life of Harriet Tubman. Sarah H. Bradford, Auburn, N. Y.
W. J. Moses, Printer
1869. pp28,29
With his brother Bill, Peter Pennington and Eliza Manokey Joe set out from Jamaica Point on the Choptank River and sailed toward freedom in Mid November. He would never be beat by the whip of a MasÕr again.
Bailey on the Choptank
Josiah Bailey Series – Bailey on the Choptank , drawing
Bailey on the Choptank Acrylic on Canvas 61″ x 81″20081856As Joe, his brother, Bill, Peter Pennington and Eliza Manokey approached Wilmington Delaware, they were warned of impending danger that lay only feet away, as they approached the Market Street Bridge. Thomas Garrett, a Quaker, who turned his home in Wilmington into the last station on the UGRR before the slaves reached freedom in Pennsylvania heard of the heavy police patrols at all routes into the city of Wilmington DE, Òhe thus formed a plan. He engaged two wagons, filled them with bricklayers, whom of course he paid well for their share in the enterprise, and sent them across the bridge. They went as if on a frolic, singing and shouting. The guards saw them pass, and of course expected them to re-cross the bridge. After nightfall (and fortunately it was a dark night) the same wagons went back, but with an addition to their party. The fugitives were on the bottom of the wagons, the bricklayers on the seats, still singing and shouting; and so they passed by the guards, who were entirely unsuspicious of the nature of the load the wagons contained, or of the amount of property thus escaping their hands. Ó Excerpt from Scenes in the Life of Harriet Tubman. Sarah H. Bradford, Auburn, N. Y. W. J. Moses, Printer1869. p31.
Sleeping Spell
Sleeping Spell
The Leverton House UGRR Station
Acrylic on Canvas
38″ x 40″
2007
1854 Flight to Freedom
42″ x 70″
Dry-point etching & acrylic one paper
2013
Flight I 20″ x 24″, graphite on paper, 2013
Escape from Poplar Neck I
Acrylic on Canvas
47″ x 57″
2007
Escape From Poplar Neck II
Shoveling Stewart’s Canal Acrylic on Canvas60.5″ x 75.5″2013
Building Stewart’s Canal
Iron Men
Powdered Steel
The New Arrivals II
The Scrapers
The Machine Operator
Female Laborer
The Platehanders
The Mechanic
Hot Rail II Acrylic on Canvas12′ x 7.5’2004
Captured at Holeur’s Fashionable Bakery
8.5″ x 7.0625″
Pen on Paper
2008
Captured at Holeur’s Fashionable Bakery
Bakery Abduction
Drop Him!, Catch Him! Pen on Paper
7.5″ x 11.25″
2009
Drop Him!, Catch Him!,
8′ x 4’7″
Acrylic on Canvas
2008
Priest working on Nalle series painting – 1st & State Street in progress
1st & State Street
The Struggle
The Altruist (pen on paper)
The Altruist
The Altruist
Don’t Let Them Have Him!
Pen on paper
8″ X 7 1/8″
2008
1000 Person Street Shuffle
86′ x 72″
Acrylic on Canvas
2010
NALLE SERIES 1860 Many slaves were the children of their white masters. This was the situation in the case of a man named Charles Nalle. It is believed that his slave owner Peter Hansborough impregnated his mother, and when he died his property was passed down to his white son Blucher. That property included ownership of his half brother, Charles. He was from Culpepper County, Virginia and escaped in October of 1858 and settled in Sandlake, New York. His owner was given a tip as to his brother’s whereabouts and he set out in hot pursuit of Charles. Charles was apprehended in Troy, New York, an abolitionist town. Harriet Tubman happened to be in Troy, visiting cousins, The Bowleys. When Harriet heard the news she went straight to the office of the U.S. Commissioner, where Charles was being detained. News of the event spread quickly. And soon an excited crowd gathered around the office, while supporters of both freedom and slavery stood outside waiting to see the outcome. Charles was brought out, and the crowd, which by this time had grown to 1000 in number fought with police and their supporters to free Charles Nalle.
Don’t Let Them Have Him!
Acrylic on canvas
59″ x 68″
2015
Nalle Crossing the Hudson
Pen on Paper
8.5″ x 7.125″
2007
Nalle Crossing the Hudson
Acrylic on canvas
71.5″ x 62″
2008
Ferry Crossing Pen on paper11.25″ x 15″2008
Ferry Crossing 5′ x 5’Acrylic on Canvas2008
Martin Struck by Deputy Sheriff Morrison
Pen on paper
7″ x 8.5″
2008
Martin Struck by Deputy Sheriff Morrison
58 x 57
Acrylic on canvas
2014
Escape to West Troy Pen on Paper8.5″ x 7.0625″2007
Muskrat Traps Woodcut 16″ x 16″2008As a young girl Harriet was hired out to another slave owner. She was given the winter task of wading out into the cold marsh waters and setting muskrat traps.
Leonid Meteor Shower of 1833 Acrylic on Canvas3.5′ x 6’2008-091833In 1833 a particularly unique meteor storm, caused by the comet Tempel Tuttle, passing through the inner solar system on its 33-year orbit around the Sun was most spectacular. The annual Leonid meteor shower, which is the dust trail from the comet Tempel Tuttle, put on a particularly spectacular show on the night of November 12. Tubman, as well as many others who saw the stars shooting across the sky, thought it was the end of the world.
Bucktown Store Skirmish
Acrylic on Masonite
12Ó x 16Ó
2007
Date of Event: 1834-1836While in her teens, Araminta was struck on the front of her head by a two-pound iron weight, which cracked her skull, almost killing her. She suffered from serious side affects for the rest of her life. ÊÊOn this particular occasion, an overseer was in hot pursuit of a runaway slave. The overseer caught up with him at the Bucktown Village Store, near Cambridge Maryland. Harriet happened to be in the store, and was told to grab the slave. She took no part in apprehending the man. As the man ran past her, the overseer tried to fell the man with a two-pound weight. Instead of striking his intended target, he hit Harriet with a powerful blow to the head.
Bucktown: Bruising in the Head Pen on Paper 6.5″ x 5″2009While in her teens, Araminta was struck on the front of her head by a two-pound iron weight, which cracked her skull, almost killing her. She suffered from serious side affects for the rest of her life. ÊÊOn this particular occasion, an overseer was in hot pursuit of a runaway slave. The overseer caught up with him at the Bucktown Village Store, near Cambridge Maryland. Harriet happened to be in the store, and was told to grab the slave. She took no part in apprehending the man. As the man ran past her, the overseer tried to fell the man with a two-pound weight. Instead of striking his intended target, he hit Harriet with a powerful blow to the head.
Bucktown Bruising in the Head
12” x 16”
Acrylic on Canvas
2007
1834-1836
While in her teens, Araminta was struck on the front of her head by a two-pound iron weight, which cracked her skull, almost killing her. She suffered from serious side affects for the rest of her life. On this particular occasion, an overseer was in hot pursuit of a runaway slave. The overseer caught up with him at the Bucktown Village Store, near Cambridge Maryland. Harriet happened to be in the store, and was told to grab the slave. She took no part in apprehending the man. As the man ran past her, the overseer tried to fell the man with a two-pound weight. Instead of striking his intended target, he hit Harriet with a powerful blow to the head.
The Auction (Dorchester count)
Acrylic on Canvas
2008
51″ x 58 “
The Leverton House UGRR Station
Acrylic on Canvas
38″ x 40″
2007
Escape From Jamaica Point
83Ó x 56Ó, 2008
1856
Joe passed into the hands of his new master. Joe was somewhat surprised when the first order issued from his master’s lips, was, “Now, Joe, strip and take a whipping!”
ÊÊÊÊÊÊÊÊ “Mas’r,” said he, “habn’t I always been faithful to you? Habn’t I worked through sun an’ rain, early in de mornin’, and late at night; habn’t I saved you an oberseer by doin’ his work; hab you anyting to complain of agin me?”
ÊÊÊÊÊÊÊÊ “No, Joe; “I’ve no complaint to make of you; you’re a good nigger, and you’ve always worked well; but the first lesson my niggers have to learn is that I am master, and that they are not to resist or refuse to obey anything I tell ’em to do. So the first thing they’ve got to do, is to be whipped; if they resist, they got it all the harder; and so I’ll go on, till I kill ’em, but they’ve got to give up at last, and learn that I’m master.”
ÊÊÊÊÊÊÊÊ Joe stripped off his upper clothing, and took his whipping, without a word; but as he drew his clothes up over his torn and bleeding back, he said, “Dis is de last!” Excerpt from Scenes in the Life of Harriet Tubman. Sarah H. Bradford, Auburn, N. Y.
W. J. Moses, Printer
1869. pp28,29
With his brother Bill, Peter Pennington and Eliza Manokey Joe set out from Jamaica Point on the Choptank River and sailed toward freedom in Mid November. He would never be beat by the whip of a MasÕr again.
Bailey on the Choptank
Josiah Bailey Series – Bailey on the Choptank , drawing
Bailey on the Choptank Acrylic on Canvas 61″ x 81″20081856As Joe, his brother, Bill, Peter Pennington and Eliza Manokey approached Wilmington Delaware, they were warned of impending danger that lay only feet away, as they approached the Market Street Bridge. Thomas Garrett, a Quaker, who turned his home in Wilmington into the last station on the UGRR before the slaves reached freedom in Pennsylvania heard of the heavy police patrols at all routes into the city of Wilmington DE, Òhe thus formed a plan. He engaged two wagons, filled them with bricklayers, whom of course he paid well for their share in the enterprise, and sent them across the bridge. They went as if on a frolic, singing and shouting. The guards saw them pass, and of course expected them to re-cross the bridge. After nightfall (and fortunately it was a dark night) the same wagons went back, but with an addition to their party. The fugitives were on the bottom of the wagons, the bricklayers on the seats, still singing and shouting; and so they passed by the guards, who were entirely unsuspicious of the nature of the load the wagons contained, or of the amount of property thus escaping their hands. Ó Excerpt from Scenes in the Life of Harriet Tubman. Sarah H. Bradford, Auburn, N. Y. W. J. Moses, Printer1869. p31.
Escape From Poplar Neck Injet Print 32″ x 17″20071857 With the threat of Harriet’s father, Ben Ross. being thrown in jail for suspicion of aiding runaway slaves; Harriet made arrangements to rescue her parents. “She brought away her aged parents in a singular manner. They started with an old horse, fitted out in primitive style with a straw collar, a pair of old chaise wheels, with a board on the axle to sit on, another board swung with ropes, fastened to the axle, to rest their feet on. She got her parents, turned Jehu herself, and drove to town in a style that no human being ever did before or since. “Excerpt from Scenes in the Life of Harriet Tubman. Sarah H. Bradford, Auburn, N. Y. W. J. Moses, Printer1869. p52.
Escape From Poplar Neck II
Canal Dig
1.Before I Knew Myself to be a Slave
2. 12-mile Journey to the Realities of Slavery
Slavery Made us Strangers
Dinner at the Pig Troph
“I Was Somebody’s Child”
Esther’s Curse–Beauty
Whipping Old Barney
8. Miss Sophia Teach Me to Read 5,000.00)
32.5″ x 41″
charcoal on paper
2015
My First Anti-Slavery Lecture
Given the Inch and Taking the Ell
Forever Unfit to be a Slave
Playmates For My Teachers
I Forbid You To Read!
Knights Book Store Pen on paper18″ x 12″2015
1833 Leonid Meteor Shower over St. Micheals
Unbroken Oxen
The Pursuit – Suffering in the woods
16. Covey Skirmish
10 inch x 10 inch
charcoal and pen on paper
2014
While I was obeying his order to feed and get the horses ready for the field, and when I was in the act of going up the stable loft, for the purpose of throwing down some blades, Covey sneaked into the stable, in his peculiar way, and seizing me suddenly by the leg, he brought me to the stable-floor, giving my newly-mended body a terrible jar. I now forgot all about my roots, and remembered my pledge to stand up in my own defense. The brute was skilfully endeavoring to get a slip-knot on my legs, before I could draw up my feet. As soon as I found what he was up to, I gave a sudden spring (my two days’ rest had been of much service to me) and by that means, no doubt, he was able to bring me to the floor so heavily. He was defeated in his plan of tying me. While down, he seemed to think he had me very securely in his power. He little thought he was–as the rowdies say
Page 137
–“in” for a “rough and tumble” fight: but such was the fact. Whence came the daring spirit necessary to grapple with a man, who eight-and-forty hours before, could, with his slightest word, have made me tremble like a leaf in a storm, I do not know; at any rate I was resolved to fight, and what was better still, I actually was hard at it.
18. Held Covey with a Firm Hand10inch x 10 inchpen on paper2014My Bondage my Freedomchapter :The Last floggingpg 178″ Are you going to resist you scoundrel? said he. To which , I returned a polite “yes sir; steadily gazing my interrogator in the eye, to meet the first approach or dawning of the blow which I expected to my answer would call forth. But, the conflict did not long remain thus equal…He called for his cousin Hughes, to come to his assistanc, and now the scene ws changed. I was compelled to give blows, as well as to parry them; and, since I was, in an case, to suffer for resistance, I felt ( as the musty proverb goes) that ” I might as well be hanged for an old sheep as a lamb.” I was still defensive towrd Covey but aggressive toward Hughes; and at the first approach of the latter, I dealt a blow, in my desperation, which fairly sickened my yourthful assailant. He went off, bending over with pain, and manifesting no disposition to come within my reach again. The poor fellow was in the act of trying to catch and tie my right hand, and while flattering himself with success, I gave him the kick which sent him staggering away in pain, at the same time that I held Covey with a firm hand.
The Last Flogging
19. Guilty of Wanting to be Free
18 inch x 12 inch
Pen on paper
2014
Life and Times of Frederick Douglass
His Early Life as a Slave, His Escape from Bondage, and His Complete History to the Present Time
Page 152
CHAPTER XIX.
THE RUNAWAY PLOT.
Page 169
five young men, guilty of no crime save that of preferring liberty to slavery,
I was in the hands of moral vultures, and held in their sharp talons, and was being hurried away toward Easton, in a southeasterly direction, amid the jeers of new birds of the same feather, through every neighborhood we passed. It seemed to me that everybody was out, and knew the cause of our arrest, and awaited our passing in order to feast their vindictive eyes on our misery.
We were a band of brothers, and never dearer to each other than now. The thought which gave us the most pain was the probable separation which would now take place in case we were sold off to the far South, as we were likely to be. While the constables were looking forward, Henry and I, being fastened together, could occasionally exchange a word without being observed by the kidnappers
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Page 170
who had us in charge. “What shall I do with my pass?” said Henry. “Eat it with your biscuit,” said I; “it won’t do to tear it up.” We were now near St. Michaels. The direction concerning the passes was passed around, and executed. “Own nothing,” said I. “Own nothing” was passed round, enjoined, and assented to. Our confidence in each other was unshaken, and we were quite resolved to succeed or fail together; as much after the calamity which had befallen us as before.
20. The Runaway Plot
12 inches x 18 inches
Pen on paper
2014
Life and Times of Frederick Douglass His Early Life as a Slave, His Escape from Bondage, and His Complete History to the Present Time
The Runaway Plot
Chapter xix
pg 169
In jail we were placed under the care of Mr. Joseph Graham, the sheriff of the county. Henry and John and myself were placed in one room, and Henry Bailey and Charles Roberts in another by themselves. This separation was intended to deprive us of the advantage of concert, and to prevent trouble in jail.
22. Parrying His Blows
12 inches x 18 inches
pen on paper
2014
Life and Times of Frederick Douglass His Early Life as a Slave, His Escape from Bondage, and His Complete History to the Present Time
CHAPTER XX
APPRENTICESHIP LIFE.
Page 183
On two other occasions while there I came near losing my life, on one of which I was driving bolts in the hold through the keelson with Hays. In its course the bolt bent. Hays cursed me, and said that it was my blow which bent the bolt. I denied this, and charged it upon him. In a fit of rage he seized an axe and darted toward me. I met him with a maul and parried his blow, or I should have lost my life.
25. Captain McGowan Didn’t See Me
7 foot x 6 foot
Charcoal, ink, acrylic on Canvas
2014
Life and Times of Frederick Douglass
His Early Life as a Slave, His Escape from Bondage, and His Complete History to the Present Time
SECOND PART
CHAPTER 1
ESCAPE FROM SLAVERY
Page 200
Only a few days before I had been at work on a revenue cutter, in Mr. Price’s ship-yard, under the care of Captain McGowan. On the meeting at this point of the two trains, the one going south stopped on the track just opposite to the one going north, and it so happened that this Captain McGowan sat at a window where he could see me very distinctly, and would certainly have recognized me had he looked at me but for a second. Fortunately, in the hurry of the moment, he did not see me; and the trains soon passed each other on their respective ways.
26. Our Wedding NIght
11 inches x 9 inches
charcoal and pen on paper
2014
So on the day of the marriage ceremony, we took our little luggage to the steamer John W. Richmond, which at that time was one of the line running between New York and Newport, R. I. Forty-three years ago colored travelers were not permitted in the cabin, nor allowed abaft the paddle-wheels of a steam vessel. They were compelled, whatever the weather might be, whether cold or hot, wet or dry, to spend the night on deck. Unjust as this regulation was, it did not trouble us much. We had fared much harder before. We arrived at Newport the next morning, and soon after an old-fashioned stage-coach
So on the day of the marriage ceremony, we took our little luggage to the steamer John W. Richmond, which at that time was one of the line running between New York and Newport, R. I. Forty-three years ago colored travelers were not permitted in the cabin, nor allowed abaft the paddle-wheels of a steam vessel. They were compelled, whatever the weather might be, whether cold or hot, wet or dry, to spend the night on deck. Unjust as this regulation was, it did not trouble us much. We had fared much harder before. We arrived at Newport the next morning, and soon after an old-fashioned stage-coach
27. Would-Be Judas. 9 inches x 11.25 inches Pen on paper2014 part 2 CHAPTER II.LIFE AS A FREEMAN.pp 209-210A threat was once made by a colored man to inform a southern master where his runaway slave could be found. As soon as this threat became known to the colored people they were furious. A notice wasPage 210read from the pulpit of the Third Christian church (colored) for a public meeting when important business would be transacted (not stating what the important business was). In the meantime special measures had been taken to secure the attendance of the would-be Judas, and these had proved successful, for when the hour of meeting arrived, ignorant of the object for which they were called together, the offender was promptly in attendance. All the usual formalities were gone through with, the prayer, appointments of president, secretaries, etc. Then the president, with an air of great solemnity, rose and said: “Well, friends and brethren, we have got him here, and I would recommend that you, young men, should take him outside the door and kill him.” This was enough; there was a rush for the villain, who would probably have been killed but for his escape by an open window. He was never seen again in New Bedford.
I Was Somebody’s Child
23. Train to Freedom 12 inches x 18 inchespen on paper2014Page 198But I had one friend–a sailor–who owned a sailor’s protection, which answered somewhat the purpose of free papers– describing his person, and certifying to the fact that he was a free American sailor. The instrument had at its head the American eagle, which gave it the appearance at once of an authorized document. This protection did not, when in my hands, describe its bearer very accurately. Indeed, it called for a man much darker than myself, and close examination of it would have caused my arrest at the start. In order to avoid this fatal scrutiny on the part of the railroad official, I had arranged with Isaac Rolls, a hackman, to bring my baggage to the train just on the moment of its starting, and jumped upon the car myself when the train was already in motion. Had I gone into the station and offered to purchase a ticket, I should have been instantly and carefully examined, and undoubtedly arrested. In choosing this plan upon which to act, I considered the jostle of the train, and the natural haste of the conductor, in a train crowded with passengers, and relied upon my skill and address in playing the sailor as described in my protection, to do the rest. One element in my favor was the kind feeling which prevailed in Baltimore and other seaports at the time, towards “those who go down to the sea in ships.” “Free trade and sailors’ rights” expressed the sentiment of the country just then. In my clothing I was rigged out in sailor style. I had on a red shirt and a tarpaulin hat and black cravat, tied in sailor fashion, carelessly and loosely about my neck. My knowledge of ships and sailor’s talk came much to my assistance, for I knew a ship from stern to stern, and from keelson to cross-trees, and could talk sailor like an “old salt.” On sped the train, and I was well on the way, to Havre de Grace before the conductor came into the negro car to collect tickets and examine the papers of his black passengers. This was a critical moment in the drama. My whole future depended upon the decision of this conductor. Agitated I was while this ceremony was proceeding, but still externally, at least, I was apparently calm and
24. I Suppose You Have Your Free Papers?
11 inches x 8.5 inches
pen on paper
2014
Life and Times of Frederick Douglass
His Early Life as a Slave, His Escape from Bondage, and His Complete History to the Present Time
Page 199
self-possessed. He went on with his duty–examining several colored passengers before reaching me. He was somewhat harsh in tone, and peremptory in manner until he reached me, when, strangely enough, and to my surprise and relief, his whole manner changed. Seeing that I did not readily produce my free papers, as the other colored persons in the car had done, he said to me in a friendly contrast with that observed towards the others: “I suppose you have your free papers?” To which I answered: “No, sir; I never carry my free papers to sea with me.” “But you have something to show that you area free man, have you not?” “Yes, sir,” I answered; “I have a paper with the American eagle on it, and that will carry me round the world.” With this I drew from my deep sailor’s pocket my seaman’s protection, as before described. The merest glance at the paper satisfied him, and he took my fare and went on about his business. This moment of time was one of the most anxious I ever experienced. Had the conductor looked closely at the paper, be could not have failed to discover that it called for a very different looking person from myself, and in that case it would have been his duty to arrest me on the instant, and send me back to Baltimore from the first station.
I went to St. Michaels to live in March, 1833. I know the year, because it was the one succeeding the first cholera in Baltimore, and was also the year of that strange phenomenon when the heavens seemed about to part with its starry train. I witnessed this gorgeous spectacle, and was awestruck. The air seemed filled with bright descending messengers from the sky. It was about daybreak when I saw this sublime scene. I was not without the suggestion, at the moment, that it might be the harbinger of the coming of the Son of man; and in my then state of mind I was prepared to hail Him as my friend and deliverer. I had read that the “stars shall fall from heaven,” and they were now falling. I was suffering very much in my mind. It did seem that every time the young tendrils of my affection became attached they were rudely broken by some unnatural outside power; and I was looking away to heaven for the rest denied me on earth.
Leonid Meteor Shower
18 inches x 12 inches
pen on paper
2014
Life and Times of Frederick DouglassHis Early Life as a Slave, His Escape from Bondage, and His Complete History to the Present TimePage 97
Covey the Snake
Scholars
Frederick Douglass the Man
36 inches x 86 inches
Charcoal on paper
2014
Drawn from an 1841 dauggereotype of Douglass.
Sydney’s Choice (drawing)
Sydney’ Choice (painting)
Sydney’s Choice II
Just for a Moment
Jubilee
Chattel
Run!
HIde!
Deception
Driving His Gig with Madness
Their’s Your Mama!
Sabbath School
Working for Freedom
April 16, 1850. Now I’m Free!
Is Your Owner on Board?
Reunited
Iron Men
The New Arrivals II
The Scrapers
The Machine Operator
Female Laborer
Douglass Learning his Trade
Sleeping Spell
Check Point
Timber Crew
4. Don’t Let Them Have Him 68″ x 69″,Acrylic on Canvas 2015$35,000.00
Acrylic on Canva
Escape from Poplar Neck I
Acrylic on Canvas
47″ x 57″
2007
Wilmington: Market Street Bridge
Acrylic on Canvas61″ x 37″20081856As Joe, his brother, Bill, Peter Pennington and Eliza Manokey approached Wilmington Delaware, they were warned of impending danger that lay only feet away, as they approached the Market Street Bridge. Thomas Garrett, a Quaker, who turned his home in Wilmington into the last station on the UGRR before the slaves reached freedom in Pennsylvania heard of the heavy police patrols at all routes into the city of Wilmington DE, “he thus formed a plan. He engaged two wagons, filled them with bricklayers, whom of course he paid well for their share in the enterprise, and sent them across the bridge. They went as if on a frolic, singing and shouting. The guards saw them pass, and of course expected them to re-cross the bridge. After nightfall (and fortunately it was a dark night) the same wagons went back, but with an addition to their party. The fugitives were on the bottom of the wagons, the bricklayers on the seats, still singing and shouting; and so they passed by the guards, who were entirely unsuspicious of the nature of the load the wagons contained, or of the amount of property thus escaping their hands. ” Excerpt from Scenes in the Life of Harriet Tubman. Sarah H. Bradford, Auburn, N. Y. W. J. Moses, Printer 1869. p31.
The Reading Lesson
The Auction
The Altruist
Flight I 20″ x 24″, graphite on paper, 2013
Horace Averill’s Betrayal
painting
Sleeping Spell
Old Ben and Harriet
Timber Crew
1854 Flight to Freedom
42″ x 70″
Dry-point etching & acrylic one paper
2013
Shoveling Stewart’s Canal Acrylic on Canvas60.5″ x 75.5″2013
Building Stewart’s Canal
Dinner at the Pig Trough
Miss Sophia Teach Me to Read
Douglass the Man
Douglass the Man Acrylic on Canvas
Covey Skirmish
Held Covey with a Firm Hand
24. I Suppose You Have Your Free Papers?
11 inches x 8.5 inches
pen on paper
2014
Life and Times of Frederick Douglass
His Early Life as a Slave, His Escape from Bondage, and His Complete History to the Present Time
Page 199
self-possessed. He went on with his duty–examining several colored passengers before reaching me. He was somewhat harsh in tone, and peremptory in manner until he reached me, when, strangely enough, and to my surprise and relief, his whole manner changed. Seeing that I did not readily produce my free papers, as the other colored persons in the car had done, he said to me in a friendly contrast with that observed towards the others: “I suppose you have your free papers?” To which I answered: “No, sir; I never carry my free papers to sea with me.” “But you have something to show that you area free man, have you not?” “Yes, sir,” I answered; “I have a paper with the American eagle on it, and that will carry me round the world.” With this I drew from my deep sailor’s pocket my seaman’s protection, as before described. The merest glance at the paper satisfied him, and he took my fare and went on about his business. This moment of time was one of the most anxious I ever experienced. Had the conductor looked closely at the paper, be could not have failed to discover that it called for a very different looking person from myself, and in that case it would have been his duty to arrest me on the instant, and send me back to Baltimore from the first station.
