Cane

This wood cane displays the transference of a historical African form and technique, the staff carved with a spiraling narrative, to the Americas. Probably made by an as-yet unidentified Black craftsperson, the cane exhibits embellishments that express African American concerns following the Civil War. At the bottom, Africans are brought in chains to the United States; above, Abraham Lincoln signs the Emancipation Proclamation, and the chains are broken as Liberty leads the way under the American eagle.