During the 1860s Johnson painted Black men, women, and children that bestow on them dignity, intelligence, and grace. Many in his family, including his sister Harriet May and her husband Reverend Joseph May were ardent abolitionists. To Johnson, Blacks were not subjects to be ridiculed or satirized. —PH
MacGibeny, 2021: I'se dot three was not pictured in the illustrated catalogue of the 1881 Chicago Inter-State Industrial Exposition, the only exhibition in which this title was used. However, Hills had surmised that the title's use of dialect suggested that this painting may be of a Black subject; and Johnson's only known Black subject done late in his career is the painting previously identified as Robbing the Nest, pictured here, in which the Black girl holds three eggs. It is unlikely that Johnson assigned the title himself.
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