Stars and Bars: American Flag Prison
Artist
Billy Morrow Jackson
(American, 1926-2006)
CultureAmerican
Date1960s
MediumScreen print
DimensionsOverall, Mat: 40 × 30 in. (101.6 × 76.2 cm)
Overall, Frame: 44 × 34 × 1 1/2 in. (111.8 × 86.4 × 3.8 cm)
Overall, Frame: 44 × 34 × 1 1/2 in. (111.8 × 86.4 × 3.8 cm)
PortfolioProtest Series
Credit LineMuseum collection
Object number0.3984
Not on view
DescriptionScreen print of an African American male behind an American flag, with the stripes appearing as bars of a prison cell.Label TextBilly Morrow Jackson American, 1926–2006 Stars and Bars: American Flag Prison, 1960s From Protest Series Screen print During the height of the civil rights movement in the 1960s, artist, professor, and activist Billy Morrow Jackson created a series of lithographs that he sold to benefit various organizations fighting for political, social, economic, and racial equality. Jackson’s Protest series consists of eight works critiquing American society during this period of social unrest. By hanging the American flag, a symbol of the United States, in a vertical rather than horizontal direction, Jackson turns the stripes into prison bars. Behind the bars is the upper portion of a naked man who gazes out toward the viewer. Who is he, and what has he done to land him in jail? Moreover, why is the flag imprisoning him? Jackson’s piece suggests that though the U.S. was built on the belief that everyone is equal, that legacy may not hold true for everyone. Museum collection 0.3984
Danny Lyon
1963-1964, printed 1999
Danny Lyon
August 1963, printed 1999
