African American History: Misrepresentation Of Art

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African American History is American History. Period. History books over the years have changed to more accurately portray not just the history of “white” Americans, but many different creeds and cultures. The African American history is represented more overall than other ethnic groups, and overall, society is constantly bridging the gaps of misinformation and misunderstanding between white and black. Unfortunately, in the past, history has been misrepresented by some pretty awful prejudice. We can see the prejudices that previous societies had through intentional misrepresentation of art, educational information, and even the stories that were passed down generation after generation. Facts dwindled down to nothing more than opinions, and …show more content…
We see these prejudices all around us even today. In art galleries all over the world there are hauntingly stunning and beautiful statues of marble and stone of likenesses from all around the world. All of these statues represent the different cultures, creeds, religions, and peoples of the world, not just those of the lighter skin tones. Take the artists Michelangelo and Bernini, they both painted statues of David from the Bible in white, but the body types of these were more similar to the Middle Eastern or Greek men of that era. Whereas, there were the sculptors Donatello and Verrocchio who both sculpted David in bronze, but with such a inclination towards the more Germanic, even Slavic features in their design. No one states that the designs of the Masters were created with prejudice in mind anymore, but, that wasn’t always true amongst the art historians. …”art historian Max Hollein noted that well into the twenty-first century, the idea of a "pure, marble-white Antiquity" prevailed despite many hints that sculpture was often painted. One influential purveyor of this falsehood was Johann Joachim Winckelmann (d. 1768). His two volumes on the history of ancient art, Geschichte der Kunst des Alterthums, were hugely popular in Europe and helped define art history as we know it …show more content…
I had personally never heard of the Kingsley plantation, or of the love that was shared between a former slave and probably the “kindest” slave owner of the era. Of course in movies and on television we are exposed to some of Hollywood’s opinionated versions of the truth of the time, but even then it is only promoted by a brand of reverse racism. To see the truths of what actually happened we have to dig deep into the stories of the time. We can only see them in certain African American historical documents and books. These historical portraits of places like the Kingsley plantation and the African Meeting House are rarely mentioned with actual historical accuracy. I appreciate the textbook we are going over. It breaks down African American history with the most accuracy I have been exposed to. This in itself is a problem. These great places of change could have been discussed long ago, but for the existence of a supremely white majority in academia who controls what knowledge the population can
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