Art & Social Issues in American Culture
Home Economics War Race & Ethnicity Resources Contact Us

Lynching

Southern Peonage

by Joe Jones

Jones moved from St. Louis to New York City in 1935, and racial justice continued to be a subject that interested him.

Southern Peonage depicts the stereotype of a brutal overseer wielding a whip and blackjack as he persecutes a prostrate black man. The figure on the right prodding another field worker in the back with his rifle is a caricature of an almost demonic young boy.

Peonage is a system of servitude based on the indebtedness of the laborer (peon) to his creditor. It was prevalent in South America and after the Civil War, also existed in the United States, especially in the most southern states. 

Learn more about this artist:

Artist Biography

Lesson Plans

Joe Jones -Southern Peonage

Joe Jones, Southern Peonage, 1937. Lithograph, 11 x 14 ½ in.

Museum Purchase, Derby Fund, from the Philip J. and Suzanne Schiller Collection of American Social Commentary Art 1930-1970

Within Lynching...
Joe Jones Joe Jones Boris Gorelick Louis Lozowick James Turnbull James Turnbull

Race Relations Anti-Semitism Lynching
Spirituality Civil Rights
Romare Bearden
George Biddle
Julius T. Bloch
Adolf Dehn
Joseph Delaney
Boris Gorelick
Robert Gwathmey
Joe Jones
Jacob Lawrence
Louis Lozowick
Elijah Pierce
Ben Shahn
George Tooker
James Turnbull


Contact Us : Rights and Reproductions : Acknowledgements

Columbus Museum of Art

© 2006
480 East Broad Street, Columbus, OH 43215 614.221.6801