E Pluribus Unum (sculpture)

The sculpture was planned to be located on the Indianapolis Cultural Trail at the northeast corner of Delaware and Washington streets, near the City-County Building. The site was selected by Wilson for its visibility from all angles on the Cultural Trail and its lack of a visual point of interest.[5] Some opponents of the artwork's location are concerned about the statue's close proximity to the Marion County Jail, pointing to current racial disparities in mass incarceration in the United States.[10]

Wilson hopes that the proximity of the proposed location for the artwork to the Soldiers' and Sailors' Monument will encourage visitors to think about the relationship between the two sculptures.[4] In Wilson's words, "I try to bring the invisible into view."[9] One of the sites available on the Cultural Trail was located near the grounds of the Indiana Statehouse at 200 West Washington Street in Indianapolis. However, Wilson decided against placing his artwork among monuments depicting important Hoosiers and events related to the State of Indiana:

"... they're of so-called great people, great men, and mine is a sculpture. It’s not a monument. It's not of a specific person. And I felt that my project should be seen as an artwork, rather than a monument. With the notion that this would be a catalyst for asking the question, and then following up that, with why are there no other images of African Americans in monument form—and if they were to be done, they should be done at the Statehouse and other locations."

— Fred Wilson, interview with WTLC-AM radio talk show, "Afternoons with Amos.", [4]

Detail of the west facade of the Soldiers' and Sailors' Monument known as the Peace group (ca. 1904)

The original figure of E Pluribus Unum, a formerly enslaved African American man, is part of a 250-ton sculpture known as the Peace group, which was designed by Herman Matzen and carved by German sculptor Rudolph Schwarz from fifty five separate blocks of limestone. In the center of the Peace group, a female figure known as both "Liberty" and "Angel of Peace" holds a Union shield and a flag wrapped in an olive branch. On the shield are the words E pluribus unum, which offers the sculpture its namesake. For Wilson, however, the phrase references Africa and the Black Diaspora. She is flanked by a blacksmith sitting on an anvil, who represents industry; a sheaf of wheat, which represents agriculture; and a homecoming of soldiers, whose lack of headgear symbolically illustrates the end of the war.[11] At her feet sits the freed African American male figure, whose positioning reflects a common trope in nineteenth-century American sculpture that depicts African Americans kneeling in gratitude while holding broken manacles or discarded whips.[14] These post-Reconstruction era of the United States depictions of formerly enslaved people, often shown with uncertain, upward gazes aimed toward their liberators, minimized African American efforts and sacrifices in obtaining freedom and instead interpreted the Emancipation Proclamation as an act of white benevolence.[14]

E Pluribus Unum was commissioned by the Central Indiana Community Foundation (CICF) to be included on the Indianapolis Cultural Trail: A Legacy of Gene & Marilyn Glick. The Cultural Trail, a $63 million project,[6] is an urban pedestrian and bike path connecting the city's five cultural districts: Indiana Avenue, Massachusetts Avenue, Fountain Square, the Wholesale District and the Canal and White River State Park.[16] A total of $2 million has been invested for new public artwork along these cultural districts in Indianapolis.[17] The curatorial advisory committee for the Cultural Trail is composed of representatives from the Indianapolis Museum of Art, Herron School of Art and Design at Indiana University–Purdue University Indianapolis, Eiteljorg Museum of American Indians and Western Art, Indiana State Museum, and other cultural organizations in city.[18]

Wilson often incorporates social dialogue into the development of his artworks.[24] He first considers projects with a connection to the culture and history of a place and then engages in talks with the museum or community that he's working with in order to enhance the work's meaning within that context.[15] In the case of E Pluribus Unum, Wilson encouraged research about the African American experience in Indianapolis and incorporated public outreach in order to educate the community and promote dialogue.[6]

A series of public discussions took place in 2009 and 2010, beginning with his first introduction of the project on February 25, 2009. Held at the historic Madam Walker Theatre in the Indiana Avenue district in Indianapolis, Wilson discussed his prior work and unveiled the digital rendering for E Pluribus Unum to a small crowd of local students and community members.[24] The following year Wilson returned to Indianapolis for further public outreach, including an event in April 2010 at Crispus Attucks High School and in August at the Indianapolis Museum of Art.[25]

After an increase in public opposition to the proposed artwork in September 2010, an additional meeting was organized on October 19 at the Madame Walker Theatre. It was at this point that the discussion became more controversial in nature[10] and began to attract attention from arts critics on a national level.[26] Wilson explained that promoting discourse in a large city like Indianapolis is much different than in a museum, which is a more finite environment. In earlier community talks in 2009 and early 2010, Wilson and the CICF had had little success in creating an ongoing dialogue. It wasn't until the discussion around the artwork took a more controversial turn that a larger portion of the city began to take notice. Wilson explained, "With a city, you realize—or I have come to realize—that as many groups as you speak to there are other groups. You can't ever reach everyone. So I’m just really thrilled that there’s engagement and talk about art."[26]

In the past, others have voiced their opinions of the enslaved figure depicted on the Soldiers and Sailors Monument. Freeman Henry Morris Murray (1859–1950), an African American art historian who earned his living as a typesetter and as a lecturer, offered an early condemnation of Indianapolis' representation of African Americans in public art. In Emancipation and the Freed in American Sculpture (1916), Murray charges that with the symbolic and figurative overload of the Peace group and its sister composite, the War group on the east facade of the monument, the African American figure appears as an offensive, last-minute addition:[14]

"It reminds me of the 'grand finale' of our old country tableau-exhibitions, in which finale (illuminated by red fire) we would try to introduce every character that had been used in the preceding 'pictures'—from 'Mother Goose' to the 'Angel of the Resurrection,' and from 'Columbus' to 'Uncle Tom and Eva'—adding, of course, 'Uncle Sam' and 'Columbia' with the Flag, and as many other characters as we were able to costume and could crowd on the stage." "I feel an impulse to seize this 'super' by his dangling foot and slide him gently off into oblivion—or else say to him, as sternly as I can: 'Awake, awake, put on thy strength ... shake thyself from the dust; arise.' You deserve a place at Liberty's side, not at her feet. Assist her soberly to uphold the Flag, while others rejoice; for, but for your strong right arm the Flag would even now perhaps be trailing in the dust!"

— Freeman Henry Morris Murray, [27]

In September 2010, an Indianapolis history teacher wrote an editorial to the Indianapolis Recorder, a historically black newspaper, that sparked the controversy surrounding the sculpture. The editorial stated that the sculpture is not an empowering or uplifting image for the African American community and likened the sculpture to a black lawn jockey.[28] The debate continued on the local Amos Brown radio show,[29] leading it to gain even more attention on local news broadcasts.[30]

Due to the escalating debate, the Central Indiana Community Foundation (CICF) organized an additional talk between Wilson and the Indianapolis community on October 19, 2010 at the Madam Walker Theatre. After Wilson presented a slideshow of his previous work, the meeting became heated when a small, organized group began to voice their opposition to the artwork. Opponents rejected Wilson's image of a semi-nude sculpture as reflective of 21st-century African Americans, and the discussion quickly transitioned into deeper issues of institutional racism in the city of Indianapolis rather than focus on Wilson's work.[10] Indianapolis Cultural Trail curator Mindy Taylor Ross stated, "It was just one of those situations where there are hundreds of people there and the loudest voices get heard and everyone else gets drowned out."[26]

Following the meeting, Wilson told reporters he felt "blindsided" and "saddened" by the community response.[31] Yet Wilson underscored the value of hearing viewpoints from the sculpture's opponents: "Having dialogue, having the discussion happen, having people tell me what they thought was really a good thing."[10] In an interview with modern art critic Tyler Green, Wilson further elaborated, "Everyone in Indianapolis has been great to me and respectful and thrilled with what I do, but even people who are against (E Pluribus Unum) seem to still respect me and my work. They just don’t like this one."[26]

Following the talk at the Madam Walker Theatre, Wilson appeared on the Amos Brown radio show to continue to dialogue with the community. The majority of the callers supported the artwork. Some suggested that the artwork was better suited for a museum, where visitors could choose to see his work, rather than in a permanent public space.[32]

Those that disapprove of Wilson's use of the freed slave have shared a number of other suggestions for subject matter, such as a sculpture of Major Taylor or a modern African American family. In defense of E Pluribus Unum Wilson has said, "It's part of my practice to use the same image to make that same point rather than to make a new image. I don't believe you forget the old image until you really deal with it."[26]

Modern art critic Tyler Green has praised Wilson for not shying from the intense public dialogue, and has described E Pluribus Unum as "the smartest, most ambitious public art project currently under consideration in America."[33] In December 2010, Green included the proposed work on the Modern Art Notes year-end top ten list.[34]