Returned to lender The Met accepts temporary loans of art both for short-term exhibitions and for long-term display in its galleries.
Untitled (Strike)
Dox Thrash American
Not on view
The commanding presence of the union organizer pictured here is indicated by his outsize representation and raised fist. The crowd holds signs that protest high living costs, World War II, and the Scottsboro Boys trial, in which nine Black youths were falsely accused of raping two White women in Alabama in 1931. This work by Thrash, a Black American, is a rare depiction of people of color organizing and participating in a labor strike in the thirties. The scarcity of such imagery is likely in part due to the frequent denial of union membership to workers of color. Thrash’s inclusion of the placard in support of the Scottsboro Boys demonstrates an interest in fighting both racial and labor discrimination, shared by many activists of the time.
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