1775-1870: learning resources

Casta paintings, constructing identity in Spanish colonial America

Key points

• New Spain

  was a

  viceroyalty

  of the Spanish empire. The presence of people of many different ethnic backgrounds and their relative social mobility in New Spain prompted Spanish anxiety about racial mixing and a desire to maintain social hierarchies that privileged European lineage.
• Casta paintings used labels and visual details such as different skin tones, dress, occupations, and settings to distinguish ethnicity and to signal economic and class divisions. These images did not reflect reality so much as represent stereotypes arranged along a biased, hierarchical scale.
• Francisco Clapera was involved in the founding of an art academy in New Spain. It is likely that many casta paintings were produced for export back to Spain, as part of an effort by artists in the viceroyalty to demonstrate their skill and sophistication, as well as the wealth and productivity of New Spain.

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Juana Basilia Sitmelelene, Presentation Basket (Chumash)

Key points

• Presentation baskets were commissioned and given as gifts to officials in Mexico City to demonstrate the good work the Catholic missions in California were doing in converting and “civilizing” the Native American tribes in the area. This ignored the often difficult conditions for Native Americans in the missions.
• The imagery on the basket is the Spanish coat of arms, taken from a colonial Spanish coin. The coat of arms is repeated six times, and gives the design a sense of movement.
• Women were traditionally basket makers in Chumash society, and they were accustomed to making baskets for exchange, both local and long-distance. Their baskets were highly esteemed, and were so tightly woven that they were nearly watertight.
• This basket was made in a time of great political and social transition. In 1808, Charles IV of Spain was deposed by Napoleon; in 1813 his son Ferdinand VII was restored to Spanish throne. At almost the same time, from 1810-1821, the Mexican War of Independence was being fought. The basket represents loyalty to the Spanish crown at a time when Mexico was gaining its independence.

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An African muslim among the founding fathers, Charles Willson Peale’s Yarrow Mamout

Key points

• Charles Willson Peale established the first public museum in America in 1784. It began as a portrait collection of Revolutionary War heroes (Peale had served with George Washington), but quickly expanded to include portraits of national heroes and other notable figures, along with scientific specimens, cultural artifacts, and objects of historical interest.
• In 1819, Peale traveled to Washington, D.C. to paint the portrait of President James Monroe and to raise funds for his museum. While there, he also completed this portrait of Yarrow Mamout, who was reputed to be 134 years old. The painting was displayed alongside portraits of famous men, celebrating the perseverance and vibrant personality of the sitter. When the portrait collection was sold in 1854, however, Mamout was misidentified as George Washington’s servant.
• Mamout had been forcibly brought to America from Guinea in West Africa, and sold a slave. He was freed many years later, in 1796. He was a devout Muslim (Muslims may have represented 10% of the total slave population in the United States in the 18th century). Yarrow eventually owned his own home and invested in bank stock to ensure a retirement income. Peale (the painter) would have been familiar with slavery, but also the rise of a free black population in Philadelphia; he depicts Yarrow Mamout as a man of dignity and wisdom.

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Slave Burial Ground, University of Alabama

Key points

• Enslaved people built and worked at the University of Alabama at Tuscaloosa from its founding until the end of the United States Civil War. These enslaved laborers were rented or owned by faculty and members of the university’s leadership. When they died, many of them were buried in a campus cemetery in unmarked graves.
• Today, modern buildings and parking lots have been built on the site of this cemetery. A 2004 marker at the edge of the former cemetery identifies two enslaved people, Jack and William Boysey, who worked on the campus and were owned by the university president. The plaque offers an apology from the university for its role in the institution of slavery.

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Seneca Village

Key points

• Seneca Village was an African-American and Irish community founded in the mid-1820s that existed until Central Park’s creation in 1857. African Americans had been present the history of New York City from its Dutch colonial beginnings, although early on most were enslaved. It was not until 1827 that slavery was abolished in New York, and much of the city had been built with enslaved labor.
• The land had been a farm north of the city that was broken up for development. Since many landowners in New York City wouldn’t sell to African Americans, this provided a unique opportunity. Purchase of a plot of land also brought the right to vote for men.
• At its height over 250 people lived in Seneca Village, not just African Americans but also European immigrants. At the time of eviction one-third of the population was of European descent, mostly Irish who had emigrated in the years immediately following the Great Potato Famine.
• By the mid-19th century idea formed that in order to become one of the great cities of the world, New York City should have a public park. In 1856 the State of New York used its powers of eminent domain to condemn the properties within the boundaries of the park and to evict the residents, including Seneca Village.

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