The Underground Railroad

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The Underground Railroad

Date1942

DimensionsOverall: 68 3/16 × 123 1/2 in. (173.2 × 313.7 cm)

Mediumoil on canvas

ClassificationPaintings

Credit LinePurchased with funds from the Libbey Endowment, Gift of Edward Drummond Libbey, by exchange

Object number

2025.168

Not on View

DescriptionThe Underground Railroad portrays the perilous journey of freedom seekers, enslaved people escaping bondage, and those who aided them. In the foreground, a rhythmic procession of figures advances toward liberation—the riverboat on the Ohio River—while danger looms in the distance. The central figural group depicts a Black man kneeling in a moment of reflection, while behind him a White man reassures a freedom seeker by placing his hand on his arm and directs the formerly enslaved man towards the riverboat. Further back, a Black man holds onto the reins of rearing horse while tearing down a flyer posted on a tree. The text reads: “Runaway Slave Reward $400 Return to Ezra Burchfield Talladega Alabama 1851.” Two figures on the left reveal Woodruff’s interest in the Old Masters, especially the seated woman with a bible, whose flowing robes and turned head recall Michelangelo’s frescoes on the Sistine Chapel. To the right, a Black boy rests on the knee of a White man, who holds out a letter. Although difficult to read, the address indicates that the letter is for Arthur Tappen of Connecticut, one of the abolitionists involved with the Amistad legal case and a key figure in the formation of the American Missionary Association. A figure with his back to the viewer waves down the riverboat with a red handkerchief. In the far distance on the left, a man on horseback with several dogs pursues the freedom seekers, adding to the intensity of the scene.

Published ReferencesStoelting, Winifred Louise. Hale Woodruff: Artist and Teacher: Through the Atlanta Years. PhD diss., Emory University, 1978. Heydt, Stephanie Mayer. Rising Up: Hale Woodruff’s Murals at Talladega College. Atlanta: High Museum of Art, 2012.Exhibition HistoryRising Up: Hale Woodruff's Murals at Talladega College: High Museum of Art, Atlanta, June 9-September 2, 2012; African American Museum, Dallas, October 6, 2012-February 28, 2013; 80 WSE Gallery at New York University, Steinhardt, July 20-October 13, 2013; National Museum of African American History and Culture, Smithsonian Institution, Washington, D.C., November 22, 2013-March 2, 2014; New Orleans Museum of Art, June 13-September 14, 2014; The Amistad Center for Art and Culture, Inc., at the Wadsworth Atheneum Museum of Art and Connecticut's Old State House, Hartford, CT, October 4, 2014-March 1, 2025; Birmingham Museum of Art, June 14-September 6, 2025.