Slavers Overthrowing the Dead and Dying

by Joseph Mallord William Turner, 1840

oil on canvas

Rankine has included a close up of a particular part of the painting in which you see the arm of a person of color with what appear to be shackles of some kind hanging off and fish swarming to the body. The arm seems to be outstretched begging for help, but none is coming. This piece has significant historical context for the book. On the page right before this piece of work we encounter a narrative of someone being told a story before the man has to leave. During the telling of this story an encounter occurs where a woman sees the people of color and turn the car away and park in another spot rather than in front of them. At the end they ask the man if he won the match and he tells them that it wasn’t a match, but a lesson. The lesson of the historical past is something that we should take into great account in the present for it initiates an indication of what could happen. One should use the past in an attempt to remedy for the future. People are calling out, begging for help, and they should not be ignored, one must not let them drown.

This very closeness of the fish attacking dying slaves shows that the nature devours the ship's innocent victims, which symbolizes that the society of that time is a " man-eating" society without justice and sympathy. Turner looked through this dark fact and criticized grave sin by creating this effective image of these horrors. The more gruesome detail he concerned, the stronger emotion could be conveyed to viewers.

Questions to Consider:

• Why does Rankine also include this up close image at the end of the book?
• Did you feel like it added anything to the piece of work?
• Was this a detail you overlooked in the overall piece? How has it affected your thoughts on the image with closer consideration?

~ Research by Yaya Zhang, Sonora Schuck, and Katherine Stachowski