Eastman Johnson, A Ride for Freedom — The Fugitive Slaves, c. 1862
At the second battle of Manassas in September 1862, American genre painter Eastman Johnson (1824–1906) witnessed this “veritable incident” of an African American family fleeing slavery — and then painted it. A powerful, split-second image of the riders’ silhouettes, Johnson’s painting captures the father looking forward toward freedom, while the mother cradles a young child and looks back apprehensively for possible pursuers. By “freeing themselves,” this family and thousands of blacks set the stage for Lincoln’s Emancipation Proclamation. Brooklyn Museum of Art, New York, USA/The Bridgeman Art Library.