Daring as a Woman: An Interview with Lorna Simpson

Use link below to read interview with Lorna Simpson in the Paris Review:

https://www.theparisreview.org/blog/2017/11/10/daring-woman-interview-lorna-simpson/

Cultural Identity

Use link below to read article from TATE:

https://www.tate.org.uk/artist-rooms/collection/themes/cultural-identity

Jenny Holzer
Protect Protect
2007

Ellen Gallagher
Paper Cup
1996

Slave Mask

"Caption "Esclave Marron a Rio de Janeiro" (Fugitive/Runaway Slave in Rio de Janeiro), based on a drawing by a Mister Bellel. The engraving illustrates a brief article on fugitive slaves in Brazil, and is apparently derived from first-hand information. "Captured fugitives," the article notes, "are forced to do the hardest and roughest work. They are ordinarily placed in chains and are led in groups through the city's neighborhoods where they carry loads or sweep refuse in the streets. This type of slave is so frightful that, while they have lost all hope of fleeing again, they think of nothing but suicide. They poison themselves by drinking at one swallow a large quantity of strong liquor, or choke/suffocate themselves by eating dirt/earth. In order to deprive them of this way of causing their own deaths, they put a tin mask on their faces; the mask has only a very narrow slit in front of the mouth and a few little holes under the nose so they can breathe" (p. 229; our translation)."

Image and text found on US Slave Blog.  Link here.

What is that thing in 12 Years a Slave?

From the scene on the boat in "12 Years a Slave"

September 14, 2015

By Toussaint Heywood

In the movie 12 Years a Slave, a man is shown with a tin mask chained over his mouth, on the ship taking Solomon Northup and others from Richmond to New Orleans to be sold.

Northup does not mention anything similar in the book. The mask is presumably based on a famous lithograph published in 1839.

The problem is that this form of punishment was rarely, if ever, used in the U.S. The man in the lithograph below is a Brazilian drawn by Jacques Arago early in the 19th Century, though the drawing has been widely copied and sometimes adapted to portray a woman.

Iron mask and collar for punishing slaves, Brazil, 1817-1818 Source.

Even in Brazil, this particular device, a small mouth-covering held on with metal straps, seems to have been rare. The text referring to the punishment in Arago's book does not match the drawing. He says the face is entirely covered by the mask, and other illustrations of Brazilians show full-face masks. So the illustration isn't even of the most common Brazilian gag.

Even the supposed purpose of the mask doesn't fit with North American slavery. It was to prevent the wearer from committing suicide by eating dirt or, less often, by drinking alcohol.

This was a complaint not typical in Virginia where the slaves in 12 Years embarked, and certainly not on shipboard. Clay-eating was recognized in the deep south among both blacks and whites as an odd but not lethal habit.

Sir Charles Lyell wrote on a visit to the U.S. deep south, "We observed several negroes there, whose health had been impaired by dirt-eating, or the practice of devouring aluminous earth,—a diseased appetite, which, as I afterwards found, prevails in several parts of Alabama, where they eat clay." He doubted it was due to lack of food because he "was told of a young lady in good circumstances, who had never been stinted of her food, yet who could not be broken of eating clay."

That does not mean a gag was never used to punish slaves here. The U.S. gag or bit or muzzle was meant to punish slaves by preventing them from talking or eating anything without it being removed, though it did not cover the face.

A journeyman cabinet-maker from the north reported: "In September, 1837, at 'Milligan's Bend,' in the Mississippi river, I saw a negro with an iron band around his head, locked behind with a pad lock. In the front, where it passed the mouth, there was a projection inward of an inch and a half, which entered the mouth. The overseer told me, he was so addicted to running away, it did not do any good to whip him for it. He said he kept this gag constantly on him, and intended to do so as long as he was on the plantation: so that, if he ran away, he could not eat, and would starve to death. The slave asked for drink in my presence; and the overseer made him lie down on his back, and turned water on his face two or three feet high, in order to torment him, as he could not swallow a drop.--The slave then asked permission to go to the river; which being granted, he thrust his face and head entirely under the water, that being the only way he could drink with his gag on. The gag was taken off when he took his food, and then replaced afterwards."

Decades later, Milliken's (Milligan's) Bend would become the site of a June 7, 1863 battle, one of the first where soldiers of "African descent" fought. Charles A. Dana later recalled, "The bravery of the blacks in the battle at Milliken's Bend completely revolutionized the sentiment of the army with regard to the employment of negro troops."

Other U.S. witnesses described similar items. C. G. Parsonswrote in 1855: "The Gag is a piece of iron, about three inches in length, one inch in width at one end, half an inch at the other, and about one eighth of an inch in thickness. This instrument is put into the mouth, over the tongue, with the narrow end inside, while the wide end is left projecting through the lips. The outer end is inserted into a small strap of iron that passes over the mouth, the ends of which extend around to the back of the neck, where they are fastened together by a rivet, or a padlock. With this long, wide piece of iron thus confined on the tongue, the slave is truly gagged, — as he is unable to utter a syllable."

A Civil War officer observed near New Orleans: "Another article is a heavy iron collar, with a mouth-piece, or 'gag' attached. This gag comes up from beneath the chin, and is immovably fixed in the mouth. In order to speak, eat or drink, it must be removed."

While the producers of 12 Years a Slave may have wanted to show the torture inflicted on enslaved people by metal instruments, they chose an uncommon Brazilian devise that was actually milder than what could have been used in the U.S. 

One of the best analyses of the lithograph showing the Brazilian slave is by J. Handler and A. Steiner, "Identifying Pictorial Images of Atlantic Slavery: Three Case Studies," Slavery and Abolition 27 (2006), 56-62. The original image appeared in Jacques Etienne Victor Arago, Souvenirs d'un aveugle, Voyage autour du monde par M. J. Arago, (Paris, 1839-40), vol. 1, facing p. 119.

Source link here. 

Scold's Bridle

"A scold's bridle is a British invention, possibly originating in Scotland, used between the 16th and 19th Century. It was a device used to control, humiliate and punish gossiping, troublesome women by effectively gagging them. Scold comes from the 'common scold': a public nuisance, more often than not women, who habitually gossiped and quarrelled with their neighbours, while the name bridle describes a part that fitted into the mouth. The scold's bridle was also known as the 'gossiping bridle' and the 'Brank(s)', and was commonly used by husbands on their nagging or swearing wives. The device was occasionally used on men; however, it was primarily used on women who agitated the male-dominated society of the era. 

(image source: Old Electronic Library)"

Images and text found on US Slave Blog.  Link here.

A Belgian Iron 'scold's bridle' or 'branks' mask, with bell, used to publicly humiliate and punish, mainly women, for speaking out against authority, nagging, brawling with neighbors, blaspheming or lying. c.1550-1800.  Source is Welcome Collection, link here. 

'THE SCOLD'S BRIDLE' BY JENNY PAULL BA

Many of us have grown up with the idea that the scold's bridle was used for hundreds of years for women who nagged their husbands, perpetuating the 'enquiry' we have on many tours about whether we sell bridles in the shop. The reality is, of course, more complex.

Firstly, it is necessary to look at the late medieval definition of a Scold. This was a woman who had a 'vicious tongue' or was 'causing nuisance by loud invective', meaning she quarrelled with her neighbours or, more worryingly for them, the authorities. There was a male equivalent, the Barrator or 'a common wrangler who setteth men at odds, and is himself never quiet but at brawl with one and another'. This term and the punishment for it appears to have gone out of use by the early 17th Century at about the same time as the bridle appeared in England. 

In the late 16th Century and the early 17th Century there is also great concern about women 'running out of control' by, amongst other things, defying husbands, rioting and challenging priests. The preoccupation with women's behaviour in the period is reflected in such writings as Shakespeare's Taming of the Shrew.

The origins of the bridle are not clear but it is currently thought to have originated in Europe sometime in the Middle Ages and was used as part of the penal system. It is first heard of in Britain as a punishment for witches in Scotland in the 16th Century and one of the worst examples of it is the so-called 'Forfar Bridle'. This is particularly horrible, having spikes on the top and bottom of the bitt to pierce the tongue and palate. There is an equally gruesome instrument kept at Stockport and known as the 'Stockport Bridle' and this also has spikes on the top and bottom of the bitt. 

The first recorded use of the bridle for scolds, in England, was in the 17th Century. Use was predominantly in towns in the North of England though there are other examples and styles of bridles preserved further south. Its use was mostly sanctioned by the Manorial or Church courts and, even then, it was an illegal punishment. 

The official punishment for a scold was the 'Ducking Stool' and all communities were obliged by law to maintain one and there are many recorded instances of them being used for scolds. Communities had their own established punishment for nagging wives and cuckolded husbands as both were against popular notions of appropriate social behaviour. These punishments were designed, primarily, to be humiliating as well as physically uncomfortable. The humiliation aspect of these punishments also provided a form of sexual titillation as the much-treasured reputation for modesty of women in the period was compromised. 

This aspect of the bridle's history has caused endless fascination for observers since that time. Historical enthusiasts such as Victorian gentlemen historians, including a vicar of that era, have written copiously and energetically on punishment instruments for women reserving particular descriptive relish for the scold's bridle. 

The emergence of the bridle in England coincided with the arrival of James I (James VI of Scotland). As King of Scotland, he had encouraged harsh punishments for female offenders and was very fearful of witches. There are a number of documented uses of the bridle for women in Scotland during his reign. 

There are cases in England where the victims of the bridle were involved in social protest or, as in the case of Dorothy Waugh, in dissenting religious movements. Dorothy was from Westmorland and had become a Quaker and her story of what it was like to wear the bridle is the only known written account. The Mayor of Carlisle put her in it for preaching in the market place. To speak publicly was regarded as a very immodest thing for a woman to do at that time. She was in the bridle for four hours, taken out and put back into gaol and then put back in the bridle for another four hours. Afterwards, she was released, whipped and chased out of the town. Unlike many women who were punished in this way, she was not subjected to abuse, lewd comment and sexual assault but drew great sympathy from the townspeople. This undermined the Mayor's purpose as he wanted to make an example of her and discourage other Quaker preachers. Whether the sympathy of the people was because she was a young religious woman posing little threat instead of an older woman seen as a nuisance, is debatable. 

Many of the bridle's victims were older women such as widows and paupers who were seen either as a drain on the parish or women not under the control of a man, eg husband or son. This often meant that they were perceived as a threat to the moral or economic well-being of the community. Many of these women were also accused of witchcraft. 

Despite the notion of the bridle as a woman's punishment providing a lurid spectacle in a more brutal age, there are claims that men had been bridled for a variety of crimes. There is an alleged example in Nottingham in the 18th Century of a blind beggar who was put into the bridle to keep him quiet in prison prior to his hanging for murder. There is another story from Scotland during the 16th Century of David Persoun being bridled for fornication; though it does seem more likely that his lover would have been bridled. 

The Royal Navy used gags which could be described as based on the bridle. The gags were pieces of wood put into the mouth and held in place by a frame which went around the head and were part of a means of punishment for sailors for a number of offences. Happily, they have not been used since the early 19th Century.  The scant evidence to support claims of bridled men is vague and it is more likely the bridle was predominantly a woman's punishment.

The bridled woman was really an outspoken woman and it took a brave one to incur the punishment for being so. This made the bridle a very effective means of social control. Her fate was to be dragged through the streets in the bridle as it shook about on her head; often with her jaw broken, spitting out teeth, blood and vomit and receiving all forms of abuse.

text source is lancastercastle.com

A branked scold in New England, from an 1885 lithograph.

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