Catalogue Entry

Hills, "Painting Race: Eastman Johnson's Pictures of Slaves, Ex-Slaves, and Freedmen," in Carbone and Hills, 1999, p. 157: "Dinah shows a heavyset, older African American woman, leaning on her cane. The figure recalls the verbal and pictorial representations of Harriet Tubman, who was well known in abolitionist circles." In 1869 Sarah H. Bradford published her sentimental biography, Scenes in the Life of Harriet Tubman, in hopes of raising funds for Tubman’s support. The woodcut that Bradford used as a frontispiece shows a standing Tubman, with kerchief on her head, leaning on a rifle. Johnson’s figure is seated and holds a long walking stick, instead of a rifle. 

Hills, 2021: Although Dinah is the earliest historical title of this painting, there is no evidence that Johnson would have given it that specific title; see Hills, p. 129 in op. cit. The title “Dinah” was assigned to the picture after Johnson’s death; it was a generic nickname applied to Black women, much like “Sambo” was to Black boys. “Dinah" appears in various nineteenth-century folk songs, most notably in “I’ve Been Working on the Railroad,” with such lyrics as: “Someone’s in the kitchen with Dinah,” and “Dinah, won’t you blow your horn.”

Dinah was a biblical heroine.  Footnote 33, in Hills op cit. elaborates: “Genesis 34 relates the story of Dinah, raped by Sheehem, the son of Hamor the Hivite, the prince of the country in which the Israelites lived. Even though Sheehem wanted to take Dinah as his wife, her brothers avenged her rape by murdering Sheehem and his father.”

Although John I. H. Baur owned and annotated a copy of the catalogue of Johnson's 1907 Estate Sale, he did not include this work in his own 1940 catalogue listing; he must have obtained it after publication.

• Portrait pose: 
  • Full length »
  • Seated »
• Subject matter: 
  • Black people »
  • Canes »