Kara Walker, Emancipation Approximation, 2000.

Kara Walker, "Emancipation Approximation, scene 18," 2000. Screenprint on paper.

In this screenprint titled “Emancipation Approximation,” Kara Walker reflects on the burden of black women in the face of their supposed freedom after the Emancipation Proclamation in 1863. Here, Walker uses the stark contrast between black and white to give her audience an image that reflects an overarching pattern. She addresses a question of space and where black bodies are allowed to exist by positioning a black woman underneath a white woman, carrying the weight on her head like a traditional basket.

I think this is an especially interesting composition given the short piece that we just read by Ella Baker, “The Bronx Slave Market.” In women’s history, we are prone to lumping black and white women’s advancements together, but so often it remains that white women were able to advance at the expense of black women. We define one group’s freedom by another’s unfreedom. In this image, we see that pattern. A black woman supports the weight of a white woman, fully dressed in her ball gown. The black woman trudges through the grass barefoot, supporting the white woman despite her emancipation on paper. Here, we see that “freedom” does not mean the same thing for two groups of people – it’s an approximation and a formality.