Which question does Grouping F answer? (answer key at bottom of page)
1. In the United States, how do we determine who is black and who is white?
2. How did white become the free and black the enslaved?
3. White is “the standard.” What does that mean?
4. Why White?
5. When words are inadequate, how can the arts help us feel the emotions of race?
6. If you do not identify as black or white, where do you fit into the conversation about race?
7. How did white become the pure category and black the contaminating one?
Artwork by Tabitha Kelly.
THE GARNER FAMILY STORY RETOLD
The story of the Garner family captured national attention in 1856, when Margaret Garner tried to kill all her children and then herself to save them from enslavement. Margaret managed to kill only one. At the time of the incident, the Garner family consisted of Robert ( deemed “Negro”); his 21-year-old wife, Margaret ( “mulatto”); Thomas, age 6 (deemed “Negro”); Sam, age 4 (deemed “mulatto”); Mary, age 2 (on the ground); and Cilla, 9 months (in Robert’s arms). Newspaper accounts describe Mary as “almost white and a little girl of rare beauty” and the Cilla as “light enough to show a red tinge in her cheeks.”
Artwork by Thomas Satterwhite Noble, 1867.
Harper’s Weekly Illustration
This illustration by Thomas Satterwhite Noble appeared in Harper’s Weekly in 1867. This is the only known image to visualize the tragic story, with all major references to Margaret Garner presenting this image. Study Noble’s illustration and take in what you see. Notice that husband Robert is not by Margaret’s side, yet newspaper reports tell us he was. Why are there two Black-appearing children (Thomas and Sam) reaching for Margaret but also two Black-appearing male bodies dead on the floor (not Mary)? Why is the Garner family depicted as only one shade of brown? Why do you think the artist would misrepresent the story? Why would we accept this image for the past 153 years?
The Modern Medea – The Story of Margaret Garner, Harper’s Weekly, May 18, 1867, p. 308
Artwork by Sherman Parnell
the ohio river
Our feet left the snow and slid onto asheet of ice. I turned to retreat but Mama clenched my arm.Her fingers indented my skin. She bent her womb filled body to level with my eye and with venom and a strand of desperation she repeated- “walk.”
The babies were swaddled, their faces pressed to breasts. There their tears slipped, and their cries were smothered. Sam, held onto my hand and pressed each time the ice veined beneath us. My hand began to throb, but I didn’t dare tell him to let go.
Mama’s ankle disappeared from the surface and as she fell her shrieks only subsided into ceaseless moans. They beat at the ice until her foot resurfaced.
What Are We Walking For?
Through shivering shudders I pleaded, “What are we walking for?” And with a tone just as brittle as the ice, father looked through me and says, “For freedom, boy.”
Until I could feel him look away I held my tongue in obedience and I bowed my head in submission. Then I watched as those desperate bodies wearied across the ice. I pitied the color of them, the weight of them. I wondered,what were we going to do with Freedom? (The Ohio River Poem by India Sada, Part 2)
Artwork by Sherman Parnell
Artwork by Sherman Parnell
Would Freedom Even Look Right on Us?
Would Freedom even look right on us? I pictured them in Freedom. I pictured them on a sunny day in Freedom. Youth restored, and the kids circling at their feet for sugary sweets. I saw them in Freedom and then I saw everyone, watching them. Everyone else saw what I saw.
I looked down at my brother’s hand wrapped so needlingly around mine. Would he be like this in Freedom? Would he still need me in Freedom? The kids used to joke that he wasn’t really my brother. That Mary and Cilla weren’t really my sisters. Would I lose them in Freedom? (The Ohio River Poem by India Sada, Part 3)
Freedom
I should have known that Freedom was the ice giving out, giving us a way out. We just had to keep stomping on it is all. We should have fallen through. We should have fallen deep into Freedom. (The Ohio River Poem by India Sada, Part 4)
Artwork by Sherman Parnell
Photograph of Margaret, Mary, and Family by Jennifer Denham. Commissioned by the Area Choreographers Festival, Contemporary Dance Theatre.
This, Rather than Slavery
During the affray, with the intention of taking their lives, Margaret struck 9-month-old Cilla in the head with a fire shovel, and she slashed at her two boys—leaving one son with a 4-inch gash to his throat and the other son with a gash to his head. She succeeded in killing her 2-year-old daughter Mary, who lay on the floor dead, her throat slashed.
The family was taken into custody. The newspapers reported that Margaret admitted “that she did kill her little girl” and that her intention was “to have killed all of her children, and then herself” rather than return to slavery.
History and Grief
The story acknowledges Margaret Garner’s place in history as the mother of both Black- and White-appearing children. We can see that the Black- and White-classified share a complicated and intertwined history, which includes Margaret Garner and other shared ancestors who deserve celebration.
In thinking about how to memorialize Margaret Garner, we can draw inspiration from the Peace Monument in Washington, D.C., which shows Grief weeping on the shoulder of History. A memorial of Margaret and Mary Garner embracing would prompt us to show our grief over the larger meaning of the Garner family’s story. Such a monument would support discussion and help to generate a new narrative about who we are.
Photograph of Grief weeping on shoulders of History by Carol M. Highsmith.
answer key
grouping f answers question 5
When words are inadequate, how can the arts help us feel the emotions of race?
