The Mass of Mankind...Thomas Jefferson Quote
Luis Jimenez, American, 1940 - 2006
published 1992
Four color serigraph on white medium weight Lenox 100 wove paper
Edition 79/100
Image: 15 3/8 × 20 in. (39.1 × 50.8 cm)
Sheet: 26 × 26 in. (66 × 66 cm)
Hood Museum of Art, Dartmouth: Purchased through the Anonymous Fund #144
2008.53.4
Portfolio / Series Title
Number 4 of 10 from 10: Artist as Catalyst
Publisher
The Alternative Museum, New York, New York
Geography
Place Made: United States, North America
Period
20th century
Object Name
Research Area
Not on view
Inscriptions
Signed and dated, in graphite, lower right margin: [illegible] '92; numbered, in graphite, lower left margin: 79/100; signed, in block, lower center: [illegible] / L. JIMENEZ [copyright symbol]; inscribed, in block, upper center: THE MASS OF MANKIND HAS NOT ? / BEEN BORN WITH SADDLES ON / THEIR BACKS NOR A FAVORED FEW / BOOTED AND SPURRED....
Label
To whom does freedom extend? A Black woman in a red kerchief and torn skirt bends down to pick cotton. The artist pairs her with a White man in a fancy collared shirt who faces the White House on a horse. The quote on the banner is from Thomas Jefferson’s last letter, in which he writes about the fiftieth-anniversary celebration of the Declaration of Independence. Though Jefferson is primarily referring to America’s independence from Britian, Luis Jimenez’s imagery, and the question marks he adds to the quote, reframes it to reference slavery. Jefferson enslaved over 600 people during his lifetime, which makes his references to freedom and autonomy for “the mass of mankind” feel far from universal.
From the 2026 exhibition Inhabiting Historical Time: Slavery and Its Afterlives, curated by Amelia Kahl (Barbara C. & Harvey P. Hood 1918 Senior Curator of Academic Programming) and Alisa Swindell (Associate Curator of Photography)
Course History
WGST 80, Feminist Theory and Methodology, Jennifer Fluri, Fall 2012
Exhibition History
Inhabiting Historical Time: Slavery and Its Afterlives, Jaffe and Hall Galleries, Hood Museum of Art, Dartmouth College, Hanover, New Hampshire, December 20, 2025 - July 11, 2026.
Provenance
Charles M. Young Fine Prints & Drawings, Portland, Connecticut; sold to present collection, 2008.
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