Fig. 17. “Free”, Statue by Emma Cadwallader-Guild, 1880s, Courtesy Crystal Bridges Museum
Slavery gave blacks little experience with muskets; however, a slavery-system priority was to create strong, athletic bodies. The statue below is named Free and was created by Emma Cadwallader-Guild of Zanesville, Ohio, in the 1880s. Guild tried to capture the athletic slave body described by Colonel Higginson.
Hard work in slavery blessed the ex-slaves with athletic bodies. Their physical condition is seldom mentioned in history, nor is slave breeding mentioned, but it was a common practice. Again, dehumanization of slaves dehumanizes both slave and slaver; in this case both are ashamed.
“ In speaking of the military qualities of the blacks, I should add, that the only point where I am disappointed is one I have never seen raised by the most incredulous newspaper critics, – namely, their physical condition. To be sure they often look magnificently to my gymnasium-trained eye; and I always like to observe them when bathing, – such splendid muscular development, set off by that smooth coating of adipose tissue which makes them, like the South-Sea Islanders, appear even more muscular than they are”[1]
Col. T. W. Higginson,
First South Carolina Volunteers
[1] Higginson, Army Life in a Black Regiment,55.