Untitled

This print is inspired by the life of John Parker, an ironworker and abolitionist who helped hundreds of enslaved people to freedom by rowing them across the Ohio River from Kentucky to Ohio. Born in Virginia to an enslaved woman and a white father, he was sold to a doctor in Mobile, Alabama, and subsequently to one of the doctor’s patients, from whom he bought his freedom. Parker had two sons who studied at Oberlin College; the background of the print reproduces a document from the College Archives related to the enrollment of one of them. Johnny Coleman, a professor of studio art and Africana studies at Oberlin College, visited Parker’s home in Ripley, Ohio, where he harvested the wildflowers used in the print’s creation. Also included are Coleman’s own footprints and superimposed handprints, the handprint of a family friend, an image of an African headrest, and ironwork from Parker’s foundry.