Objects Search Record
Images
Metadata
Catalog Number |
B2016.03.01 |
Object Name |
Painting |
Title |
Ben Venue Slave Cabins |
Museum |
Alexandria Black History Museum |
Description |
The painting depicts the exterior of three slave cabins on Ben Venue farm in Rappahannock County, Virginia. The Fletcher family established a plantation between 1844 and 1846 on Ben Venue farm in Rappahannock County, Virginia. With their Greek Revival architectural elements, solid brick The painting depicts the exterior of three slave cabins on Ben Venue farm in Rappahannock County, Virginia. The Fletcher family established a plantation between 1844 and 1846 on Ben Venue farm in Rappahannock County, Virginia. With their Greek Revival architectural elements, solid brick and stone foundations, and even positioning on the landscape, the Ben Venue cabins embody the reforms to slave conditions between 1830 and 1860. Southern antebellum slave housing tended toward single-family units over the barracks-style dwellings of mixed kin prevalent in the eighteenth century. By providing greater material comforts, planters hoped to improve the well-being of their enslaved population, pacify rebellion, encourage complacency, and increase plantation productivity. With this "benevolence", they sought to legitimize the institution of slavery. This painting is part of Sherry Z. Sanabria's "Sites of Conscience" series. |
Material |
Arches Paper |
Artist or Maker |
Sherry Z. Sanabria |
Date |
2002 |
Dimensions |
H-22 W-36 inches |
Search Terms |
Plantations Slave quarters Slavery |
Subjects |
Plantations Slave quarters Slavery |
Related People |
Sanabria, Sherry Z. |