Lord+Is+My+Shepherd,+The

Date: ca. 1863
 * [[image:https://s3.amazonaws.com/saam.media/files/styles/x_large/s3/images/1979/1979.5.13_1a.jpg?itok=HNIK62oK width="273" height="349" link="@https://americanart.si.edu/artwork/lord-my-shepherd-11494"]] || Title: **The Lord Is My Shepherd**

Artist: **Eastman Johnson** Born: Lovell, Maine 1824 Died: New York, New York 1906

Medium: oil on wood Dimensions: 16 5/8 x 13 1/8 in. (42.3 x 33.2 cm.) Smithsonian American Art Museum Gift of Mrs. Francis P. Garvan

Accession: 1979.5.13 || Eastman Johnson painted The Lord Is My Shepherd only months after the Emancipation Proclamation of New Year's Day, 1863. The image of a humble black man reading from his Bible was reassuring to white Americans uncertain of what to expect from the freed slaves. But the simple act of reading was itself a political issue. Emancipation meant that blacks must educate themselves in order to be productive, responsible citizens. In the slaveholding South, teaching a black person to read had been a crime; in the North, the issue was not "May they read?" but "They must read."
 * Exhibition Label: **

The title refers to Psalm 23:

The LORD is my shepherd; I shall not want. He maketh me to lie down in green pastures: he leadeth me beside the still waters. He restoreth my soul: he leadeth me in the paths of righteousness for his name's sake. Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil: for thou art with me; thy rod and thy staff they comfort me. Thou preparest a table before me in the presence of mine enemies: thou anointest my head with oil; my cup runneth over. Surely goodness and mercy shall follor me all the days of my life: and I will dwell in the house of the LORD for ever.


 * Suggested Questions: **
 * What is going on in this picture?
 * How would you describe this man? (threatening vs. submissive)
 * What is the mood of this picture-- How does it make you feel?
 * What is the man reading? Do you recognize the title of the painting?
 * "Lord is My Shepherd" is one of the Psalms. What do you think it means? Why might the artist have chosen this as a title?
 * During slavery, many laws forbid slaves from learning to read. Why might literacy be a concern for slaveowners? Why was literacy a necessity after emancipation?
 * Why is reading important? Why might this scene have been meaningful when it was first painted?
 * What political statement might Johnson be making about the future of African Americans in the United States?

Artist Biography SAAM Collections Page
 * Links: **