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Art and Life of William H. Johnson:
A Guide for Teachers
Lesson 4. Civic Life: Freedom Fighters
Underground Railroad
The heroes of the Underground Railroad—both black and white—are celebrated in this painting. The Underground Railroad was not a real railroad, but a secret route used by slaves to escape to
freedom during the nineteenth century. Slaves used many means to escape. Some fled at night through the woods on foot or horseback, others moved from house to house hiding in cellars, while others traveled in boats, wagons, even trains. Many brave men and women sneaked into slave territory to guide runaways out of bondage. The most famous—Harriet Tubman—is probably represented in this painting as the black woman with the white headdress.
In 1945 and 1946, Johnson began a series of paintings depicting famous men and women in African American history—Nat Turner, Frederick Douglass, John Brown, Harriet Tubman, and others who struggled for racial equality in America. Underground Railroad is among these history paintings that Johnson called his "Fighters for Freedom." These paintings express colorful images created in a signlike manner.
When asked by a critic why he had moved in this more narrative, two-dimensional, and documentary direction, he replied:
It was not a change but a development. In all my years of painting, I have had one absorbing and inspiring idea, and have worked towards it with unyielding zeal: to give—in simple and stark form—the story of the Negro as he has existed.
Questions and Activities
Ask students to look carefully at the painting. Can you find at least three methods slaves used to escape?
What color(s) does the artist employ to help move your eye through the painting?
What evidence is there that Johnson based this work on memory rather than on observation?
Ask students to research contemporary fighters for freedom. Write an essay or poem about their stories.
Soldiers' Morning Bath
Following Japan's surprise attack on Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941, Johnson began to explore the role of African American recruits in the war effort. Johnson, along with over one thousand fellow American painters and graphic artists, responded to a call by the U.S. Office of Emergency Management for art that could "inform the public about war and defense activities."
Johnson's paintings—images of black soldiers engaged in infantry training, ammunition drills, actual battle, and war-related support services—rise above the standard war imagery, if only because they refer to the segregationist policies of the U.S. military. For example, in a work called K.P., Johnson commented on the demeaning chores often assigned to black enlisted men. Johnson did not create blatant, visual propaganda, however, to protest injustice. He frequently captured the humorous aspects of war. In Soldiers' Morning Bath, eight underwear-clad soldiers walk single file into a makeshift bathing facility. Johnson pokes honest fun at the army's regimentation and discipline.
Johnson's interest in World War II as a theme in painting mirrored the sentiments of many Americans, who also considered it a patriotic duty to find ways of supporting America's military. The war-inspired works by Johnson and other civic-minded artists can be viewed as artistic extensions of the scrap-metal drives, food-rationing programs, and other volunteer work in which many citizens took part.
Questions and Activities
Discuss reasons why music, painting, plays, films, etc. would continue and even flourish during times of war.
Ask students to research the role of blacks in the military during World War II. Find out about well-known heroes such as generals Benjamin O. Davis Sr. and Jr., and little-known individuals like Dorie Miller.
Start a class project to create a timeline that begins during World War II and extends to the present. Ask students to record history, sports, entertainment, art, and music, as well as the important events in their life. Illustrate or find photographs that document these events.
Pictured top: William H. Johnson, Underground Railroad, around 1945, oil on paperboard,
Pictured bottom: William H. Johnson, Soldiers' Morning Bath, about 1941–42, tempera, pen and ink on paper,
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