Considering the time period, the women ethnicity, and what history tells us about what happened to female slaves, it is what it seems to depict : the rape of a black woman.
It's hard to imagine someone painting this/that expression on her face and finding the subject matter acceptable. Or so I like to think? Maybe I'm naive. But if it's true, it's a great example of powerful art confronting viewers. Or I suppose that's true either way, for better or worse.
They didn't even see the slave as human. So there's no dehumanization here, that's already done! (From the perspective of the artist) This is like someone dressing up their dog in a funny hat and posting that, they see nothing wrong.
Yeah, you're probably right. But I like my version better. The guy second from left sure looks like he's doing "tickle fingers," so I just can't be 100% sure.
It's an extremely naive point of view. I am no expert since I only saw a few documentaries and read a few articles but each time it was said that black women rape was very prevalent since it was simply seen as way for breading more slaves. The high society didn't want white people breeding with with slaves not because it was morally wrong but because they they consider slaves way beneath them. Although It didn't stop them from renting them to sailors to satisfy their needs.
