Selma Unveiled: Painting Depicts Civil Rights Struggle - Essay Sample

Introduction

'Selma' is a 1965 painting by Barbara Pennington that was recently unveiled by the Mint Museum after its discovery by the artist's niece, Vicki Moreland, a short while after the former's death. The piece, which measures nine feet wide, depicts the Civil Rights Movement and themes for which activists fought. At the foreground is a white man, presumably a security guard, wielding a baton with which he appears to beat two men and a woman of color. The guard seems to have subdued them. To the right are predominantly African American congregants exiting a church en masse. In the background are soldiers marching with weapons in hand, behind whom are white men and women. A figure in white robes characteristic of the white supremacist Ku Klux Klan overshadows the guard. The painting explores racial tensions between whites and African Americans through ethos, pathos, and logos. Pennington uses her artistic prowess, the portrayal of violence, and her awareness of the racial issues at the time to bring attention to racial inequality and oppression foster hope for equality. This essay seeks to assess how ethos, pathos, and logos are used by Pennington in Selma to reach out to the audience.

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Ethos refers to the ethical appeal that an author use in the literature to depict the credibility of the artist to the audience. The primary ethical appeal in 'Selma' is the urge to protest against police violence towards protestors. The people have the right to protest bad leadership, discrimination, and poor leadership in a democratic society. Pennington uses ethos in the form of the impeccable artistic skill she had nurtured throughout her long career as a painter. The painter is a native of Alabama, and her expertise won her a scholarship to study in the highly-respected University of Alabama (Aloysius 15). She had won the National Scholastic Awards and later attained a Bachelor of Fine Arts and Master of Arts, after which she taught high school students (Aloysius 18). All these experiences won her a host of other awards and brought her recognition, which improved her credibility substantially. Pennington's strength lay in her achievements as a painter, which inspired her belief in the equality of the human race. The painting is somewhat a summary of her interactions with different people and her awareness of the racial situation at the time, which makes it a credible rendition of the same. The painting explicitly shows the injustice in society and how religion is used to corrupt the masses.

The events that inspired her to create the piece took place while she was in New York working on her pieces. Suffice it to say, these events happened across the country and influenced her slight change of design. Previously, she had built a reputation as an abstract painter for most of her career (Aloysius 48). Her ability to incorporate all the major themes of the Civil Rights Movement by bringing together white supremacy, African American marches, and institutions like the church, police, and support of oppressive systems by the white majority indicates an unmatched skill. She creates a powerful piece that exposes the events that happened during the 1965 march in 'Selma,' Alabama fighting for racial equality. The author appeals to deontological ethics by showing the duty of the police officers in riots by quelling violence. Besides, the author appeals to the utilitarian ethical appeal of the audience by showing how the believers fail to intervene and continue with their daily activities due to the fear of being met with force life those who were protesting.

Pathos refers to the appeal of the audience's emotions, and it is a powerful tool, especially in painting, because it depicts the artist's state of mind during the creation of the piece of art as well as the emotional nature of the context. Pathos is the spread of particular messages by emphasizing emotional connections. 'Selma' shows violence being administered against African American men and women. A masked white guard appears in the foreground and seems to be beating them up. The juxtaposition of the white people in the background is difficult to analyze because their reaction may be interpreted as either passive or supportive of the violence against African Americans. This suspicion by the viewer is confirmed by the figure in the Ku Klux Klan regalia, whose hands show that they are white. In showing these images and the failure of the white majority to do anything to change the state of affairs creates an emotional connection with both African Americans and sympathetic whites, who would be disturbed by the unnecessary violence and the failure of whites to address it.

The emotional connections become even more apparent in congregants walking out of a church, characteristic of the marches from which Pennington drew her inspiration. The inclusion of the church is perhaps an homage to the efforts of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. The preacher-cum-human rights defender spearheaded the Civil Rights Movement from the Ebenezer Baptist Church, from where he began his campaign against the oppression of African Americans (Bloom 65). This march creates a sense of hope among African Americans, as well as white sympathizers who were part of the movement. The painting includes what appears to be a white minister and sisters, who perhaps resonated with the struggles for racial equality among African American sympathizers (Pennington). In a sense, even with the overwhelming violence against minorities, mostly African Americans, the marches were a sign that things would soon change, an aspect that Pennington aptly portrays. The believers from the church who pass by without protest of the violence being met on others show the artists' emotion of fear which and lack of pity on the protestors who are being mercilessly being beaten.

With respect to this 'Selma', logos refers to knowledge of the position of African Americans, the inaction of white citizens in protest against the structural and literal violence against African Americans. Of special interest is the violence, as mentioned earlier, which appears to receive backing from the Ku Klux Klan (KKK). It is worth noting that the very founding of the KKK was to fight against the entry of African Americans into public life in the United States when they won elective offices (Gitlin 127). These changes made them feel less in control of what they thought was predominantly their country and went on to perform lynches on African Americans throughout the US. "Selma" shows the white-robed member in a larger size compared to the other figures, which shows that they are the primary influence of such violence (Gitlin 167). Logos is depicted in the painting to show that a divided nation during the civil rights campaigns in the United States and the ignorance of the white people who were not moved by the violence met on the African Americans who were fighting for equality and inclusion. Therefore, Pennington was aware of the inspiration of this violence and was unafraid of showing its rawness.

Pennington also shows his awareness of the structural violence against African Americans when she paints police officers dressed in green in the background. Although individuals participated in the violence, police officers were involved and were supported by the white majority citizens (Bloom 193). The images of the African American victims include one man who appears dead (Pennington). This particular figure represents the numerous injuries, deaths, and arrests that African Americans experienced in the 1960s and the ignorance of this goings-on by white citizens. The additional use of the American flag behind the police officers shows that they felt that their actions patriotic. Pennington shows her awareness of the justifications the entire law enforcement and political institutions used to defend their actions, much to the detriment of African Americans. In showing violence and the various institutional portrayals, Pennington successfully employs logos.

Conclusion

In conclusion, artists use different aspects of language to appeal to the audience. Ethos, pathos, and logos are evident in 'Selma' by Barbara Pennington. The painting, created in 1965 by the widely acclaimed painter, shows a violent security guard wielding a baton with which he uses to attack three African Americans, one of whom appears already dead. The security guard is overshadowed by a presumably white person dressed in KKK code. Pennington's awareness of the structural influences of these issues becomes even more apparent in the use of police officers and the American flag, in a manner that resonates with African American activists and their white sympathizers. The people exiting the church represents the marches of African Americans in protest against this violence in the 1960s, while also showing hope of the change that would later come. 'Selma' succeeds in showing the ethos due to her strong reputation as a painter through her long experience in the industry, contributing to the accomplishment of the painting in all the three rhetorical areas.

Works Cited

Aloysius, Stefanu E. Barbara Pennington. Routledge, 2012.

Bloom, Jack M. Class, Race, and the Civil Rights Movement, Second Edition. Indiana UP, 2019.

Gitlin, Marty. The Ku Klux Klan: A Guide to an American Subculture. ABC-CLIO, 2009.

Pennington, Barbara. Selma. [Canvas] The Mint Museum, 1965.