New VUU artwork, commissioned for America's 250th, will be unveiled on Sunday
Commissioned by Virginia Union to coincide with America’s 250th celebration, "Unfinished Declaration" reimagines the Declaration of Independence by replacing its text with Frederick Douglass’s 1852 address, “What to the Slave Is the Fourth of July?” a landmark speech intentionally delivered on July 5 to the Rochester Ladies’ Anti-Slavery Society as a critique of American hypocrisy.
Haywood Watkins III is the conceptual Richmond artist behind the piece. He was noted recently for his large-scale piece called Shrine: A Motherhood, which fashioned more than a thousand flowers into bouquets to commemorate the disparity of Black women’s mortality rates due to pregnancy complications, and was unveiled on Mother's Day.
Dr. Felicia Cosby, who directs the Center for African American History and Culture at VUU, said she immediately understood Watkins' vision.
“The purpose of Unfinished Declaration is to invite the public to reflect on both the promise and the paradox of American democracy,” she said.
She added: “Haywood shared his vision of reframing Douglass’s words within the visual structure of the Declaration of Independence. The connection was immediate. It felt serendipitous, perhaps even divinely ordered, because his idea aligned so closely with our vision, VUU’s mission, and the work of our Center for African American History and Culture.”
In the speech, Douglass declares: “What, to the American slave, is your Fourth of July? I answer; a day that reveals to him, more than all other days in the year, the gross injustice and cruelty to which he is the constant victim."
At over 5,000 words, the speech is longer than the Declaration of Independence. Despite this length, Watkins said, “I really felt adamant that the entire speech needed to be included in the exhibit.”
He pointed out that the structure of the speech is what makes it timeless, “where the beginning is a really intelligent sleight of hand, disarming the audience to settle everyone into the ride you’re about to take them on.”
He added: “Democracy is a forever project, and I think Douglass spoke about that quite eloquently. My goal is to uplift Frederick Douglass through his speech, not as a Founding Father but as a founding element, a founding person of the nation where we have so many different people we can celebrate for this 250th anniversary.”
Richmond actor Ruffin Prentiss will read an abridged version of Douglass’s speech at the sold-out event, which begins Sunday at 3 p.m.
Max Posner
Watkins hopes those who see the piece will reflect on the unfinished nature of democracy.
“I don’t think it will be a perfect society,” he said. “But if we are going to move toward perfection, it requires, in Douglass’s words, ‘agitation.’ Agitate, agitate. We have to continuously roll up our sleeves and be willing to sacrifice time, power, and resources to ensure we get to a place where we’re closer to ‘all men are created equal.’”
Cosby agreed.
“The central question Douglass raised in 1852 is still with us,” she said. “What does freedom mean when its rights, protections, and opportunities are not experienced equally?”
