The High Museum’s New Exhibit Returns Credit To Black Artists

The High Museum of Art’s newest exhibit is definitely something you can’t miss. This historic exhibit, “Hear Me Now: The Black Potters of Old Edgefield, South Carolina” is a look into the dark past of the United States, and the reclamation of art stolen from enslaved African Americans.

This exhibit highlights the pottery made by enslaved African Americans during the early 19th century (pre-Civil War) in Edgefield South Carolina. The exhibit works to identify and name the true artists of this gorgeous pottery, since many of the names of the real artists were erased or never recorded.

Some history on The Black Potters of Old Edgefield, South Carolina

The history of slavery in the United States is widely understood in terms of agriculture, but that was not the only avenue for enslavement. Historians are now delving into the past of “industrial slavery,” where the knowledge, experience and skill of enslaved people were essential to the success of the enterprise. This exhibit sheds light on how industrial slavery was used in the south.

The Pottery

In the early 1800s, white settlers established potteries in the Old Edgefield district, a rural area on the western edge of South Carolina, to take advantage of its natural clays. Hundreds of enslaved people were then forced to work in the potteries, handling all of the duties of the pottery, from mining and preparing clay to throwing vast quantities of wares and decorating and glazing the vessels.

White enslavers then marked the finished products with their own names, therefore claiming the expertise of the enslaved as their own. This is why today it is so important to return the rightful…