Collections: Decorative Arts: Cane

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Cane

Combining African tradition with a pivotal event in American history, this cane or staff commemorates the Emancipation Proclamation, which in 1863 ended slavery in the United States. Although canes served the dual function of walking stick and symbol of authority in European as well as African societies, the richly carved narrative decoration arranged in a spiral places this cane in the African tradition of craftsmanship and strongly points to a maker within the nineteenth-century African-American community.

The narrative of the cane begins at the bottom with a slave ship. Continuing upward, Lincoln signs the Emancipation Proclamation and a free slave unfurls a scroll inscribed "Be it known that all men shall be free." The spiral comes to a climax as the figure of Liberty strikes the chain of slavery from a whipping post beneath the American eagle, symbol of freedom.

• Culture: American
• Medium: Wood, metal
• Place Made: USA
• Dates: 1865-1900
• Dimensions: 35 x 4 1/2 x 1 1/2 in. (88.9 x 11.4 x 3.8cm)
• Collections: Decorative Arts
• Museum Location: This item is on view in American Identities: A New Look, Everyday Life/A Nation Divided, 5th Floor
• Accession Number: 1996.179
• Credit Line: Marie Bernice Bitzer Fund and A. Augustus Healy Fund
• Image: Overall, 1996.179_transp654.jpg. Brooklyn Museum photograph
American. Cane, 1865-1900. Wood, metal, 35 x 4 1/2 x 1 1/2 in. (88.9 x 11.4 x 3.8cm). Brooklyn Museum, Marie Bernice Bitzer Fund and A. Augustus Healy Fund, 1996.179 (Photo: Brooklyn Museum, 1996.179_transp654.jpg)
• Catalogue Description: Wooden walking cane or staff, commemorative of the Emancipation Proclamation. Narrow cylindrical form tapers toward bottom; handle grip is a carved eagle holding an olive branch; upper half of cane is carved with relief decorations; lower portion is smooth with tip sheathed in metal. Carved decorations around upper portion consist of four bands which tell the story of slavery and emancipation, from bottom to top: invaders with crosses enslave Africans; slave ship traveling to America; allegorical female figure of Liberty with sword (symbolizing the Civil War) and an eagle holding banner inscribed "Liberty"; Abraham Lincoln signing the Emancipation Proclamation and a slave freed from a whipping post holding a banner that reads, "Be it known that all men shall be free!"