"Four Hundred Years of Free Labor"

This sculpture is another piece in the exhibit "History Refused to Die" at the Metropolitan Museum of Art.  To remind you, the works are by self-taught contemporary African American artists.  This one is called "Four Hundred Years of Free Labor" by the artist Joe Mintner of Birmingham, Alabama.  This is the text on the wall which describes this sculpture:  "The tools in this sculpture collectively assume a human presence.  They confront the viewer like ghosts of their former users, evoking multiple and different groups of African Americans subjected to forced labor over time.  Minter’s assembled tools stand as iconic testaments to the lives of the anonymous laborers who once wielded them."  It is a very powerful piece when seen in person.