Dressing for the Carnival

In this painting Homer evoked the dislocation and endurance of African American culture that is a legacy of slavery—specifically the Jonkonnu festival, rooted in the culture of the British West Indies and celebrated by enslaved people in Virginia and North Carolina. After the Civil War, aspects were incorporated into Independence Day events. The painting’s original title was Sketch—4th of July in Virginia. The theme of freedom was particularly relevant in 1877, when Black Americans saw an end to their brief experience of full civil rights after federal troops withdrew completely from the South.