Commissioned Art Print Available for Purchase

To commemorate Juneteenth 2022, Richmond Hill commissioned an illustration by S. Ross Browne entitled, The Reading Lesson. S. Ross Browne is a noted illustrator who has a permanent exhibit at VMFA. 

The illustration is available as a poster and may be purchased at the Richmond Hill bookstore for $30, plus tax ($31.80 total). A portion of the proceeds benefit The Judy Project & rehabilitation of the Dwelling of Enslaved Africans at Richmond Hill.

From the artist:

This illustration depicts a young mother and son who are enslaved Africans in the city of Richmond, They are intimately engaged in the then illegal act of reading and learning to read. The composition is renaissance in nature creating the triangular shape attributed to many pietas. The tenebrist lighting and shadow informs of the incongruous dramatic nature of a benign activity and the sensitivity with which this act of love and defiance is offered and received.

Many children [in Richmond], in addition to appearing neat and orderly knew the alphabet; many could spell. They told the teachers their mothers had taught them. Their statements were found to be correct. The parents had actually, under the very eye of the masters, found means to possess themselves of that coveted knowledge, which they were in secret imparting to their children.

‘Cato’, a teacher from the North reporting after the Civil War Ended