“Curry’s mural shows, in a profound and powerful way, that the slaves themselves were driving that.” And yet somehow, by 1863, Lincoln has put his pen to a proclamation that says quite the contrary,” says Kantrowitz. “When the Civil War began, everyone on both sides was very clear: this was not a war of emancipation. For this reason, the Curry mural interests him. 1, 1863), Kantrowitz is engaging the campus and the broader community in conversations about slavery and its aftermath.Īt the heart of Kantrowitz’s effort: a desire to broaden understanding of African-Americans’ role in securing their freedom and citizenship. “But at the center of this mural are the slaves themselves, who have essentially set in motion their own liberation.”Īs the 150th anniversary of the Emancipation Proclamation approaches (Lincoln signed the edict on Jan. “It’s tempting to read this as the classic story of how the Union Army freed the slaves, and the dead soldiers as the cost of that freedom,” says history professor Steve Kantrowitz.
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