Race and Art: A Case Study from Winslow Homer

In this lecture, Peter H. Wood, professor of history at Duke, explores Near Andersonville, an important work by Winslow Homer—one of America’s most famous and admired artists who rose to prominence as an illustrator during the Civil War. In a 1988 landmark exhibition, Wood and Karen Dalton brought attention to the fact that many of Homer’s most significant works focused on African Americans, both enslaved and free. Wood has continued to pursue this theme of Homer’s black images.