The Lord Is My Shepherd

Eastman Johnson, The Lord Is My Shepherd, 1863, oil on fiberboard, Smithsonian American Art Museum, Gift of Mrs. Francis P. Garvan, 1979.5.13
Copied Eastman Johnson, The Lord Is My Shepherd, 1863, oil on fiberboard, 16 5⁄8 x 13 1⁄8 in. (42.3 x 33.2 cm.), Smithsonian American Art Museum, Gift of Mrs. Francis P. Garvan, 1979.5.13
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Artwork Details

Title
The Lord Is My Shepherd
Artist
Date
1863
Location
Dimensions
16 5⁄8 x 13 1⁄8 in. (42.3 x 33.2 cm.)
Credit Line
Gift of Mrs. Francis P. Garvan
Mediums
Mediums Description
oil on fiberboard
Classifications
Subjects
  • Figure male
  • African American
  • Recreation — leisure — reading
  • Religion — Christianity
Object Number
1979.5.13
Linked Open Data
https://edan.si.edu/saam/id/object/1979.5.13

Artwork Description

Eastman Johnson painted The Lord Is My Shepherd only months after the Emancipation Proclamation of New Year's Day, 1863. The image of a humble black man reading from his Bible was reassuring to white Americans uncertain of what to expect from the freed slaves. But the simple act of reading was itself a political issue. Emancipation meant that blacks must educate themselves in order to be productive, responsible citizens. In the slaveholding South, teaching a black person to read had been a crime; in the North, the issue was not "May they read?" but "They must read."

Exhibition Label, Smithsonian American Art Museum, 2006

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