“Dinah, Portrait of a Negress”
This oil on board painting from 1867 is by the American realism portrait and genre artist, Eastman Johnson, and is titled “Dinah, Portrait of a Negress”. It is commonly believed that the woman depicted in this painting was modeled after the American abolitionist, Harriet Tubman. During this time, the name “Dinah” used in the title was a generic name that was often applied to African American slave women.
Harriet Tubman was born in Maryland into slavery. In 1849 she escaped to the north to Philadelphia. For the next several years, Tubman made several trips back to her home state, first to save her family and relatives, and then other slaves. In the end, Tubman helped over 70 people escape from slavery in the American south via the Underground Railroad network.
Between the 1850s and 1860s, Johnson painted an extensive series of African American slaves, either depicting activities in their daily lives or in more traditional portraits. Johnson did more paintings in this series than in any other genre during the entirety of his long career. Most of his family members were abolitionists and from his works, it is clear that he was entirely supportive of that cause.
“Dinah, Portrait of a Negress” is currently on display at the Gibbes Museum of Art in Charleston, South Carolina.
For more on Eastman Johnson, please visit his short biography here.
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