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Museum showcases student Amistad art
0519 EDU Amistad Broken Shackle
Tori Funston and Sara Jackson created this plaster cast, which was welded by Eli Pacheco. - photo by Photo provided.
Deborah Robinson, director of the Historical African American Museum at the Dorchester Academy in Midway, recently commissioned a group of sculpture students at Bradwell Institute to create a collection of art work based on the Supreme Court case of kidnapped slaves on the ship Amistad. The effort to free the slaves was the first civil rights case in the United States.
The American Missionary Association led this fight for freedom and eventually established the Dorchester Academy, which showcases other Amistad work. Every few years, the United Church of Christ in Connecticut sends out a traveling exhibit about the Amistad case. Although the exhibit was originally supposed to stop in Savannah this year, the work never made it and went from Cuba to New York instead.
Brooke Reyna’s advanced sculpture students used the entire semester to create original pieces of art work based on the Amistad story. Their work will be in Dorchester’s permanent collection, which visitors can see from 11 a.m.-2 p.m., Tuesday through Friday. Robinson also said she is willing to arrange special tours at other times. For information, call 884-2347.
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