BAGGAGE
2025. 48"x96"x6". Safety Items, Garbage Bags, Chain, and Children's Toy on Wood Panel.
Exhibited at The Atlanta Contemporary Art Center, Atlanta, GA.
Exhibited at The Atlanta Contemporary Art Center, Atlanta, GA.
STATEMENT
As Black landowners in the early 20th century, my great-great grandparents, Burrel and Mattie Henry, were frequently attacked by White locals seeking to drive them from their 400-acre Alabama home. Burrel worked to establish relationships with local law enforcement, politicians, and other influential Whites, in hopes that his proximity to powerful members of the community would insulate his family from violence. On February 10, 1923, against the wishes of his wife, Burrel invited a group of prominent White Alabamans to join him for a hunt on the Henrys' acreage. He was shot dead. His murderers escaped justice by claiming they simply missed their target—a rabbit in a tree.
Burrel Henry
1874 — 1923
As Black landowners in the early 20th century, my great-great grandparents, Burrel and Mattie Henry, were frequently attacked by White locals seeking to drive them from their 400-acre Alabama home. Burrel worked to establish relationships with local law enforcement, politicians, and other influential Whites, in hopes that his proximity to powerful members of the community would insulate his family from violence. On February 10, 1923, against the wishes of his wife, Burrel invited a group of prominent White Alabamans to join him for a hunt on the Henrys' acreage. He was shot dead. His murderers escaped justice by claiming they simply missed their target—a rabbit in a tree.
Burrel Henry
1874 — 1923
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