It doesn't look like rape to me. I think you are projecting.

that should be "being raped" not "having sex with"

Slaves were freed at the close of the Civil War And that ain't necessarily so. One of the forefathers (I am sure there were more)had a love affair with a slave and from the documentation she wasn't forsced into the relationship. Though she was not recognized as family they were treated as such and all her children were well educated.

I think any time you say if this then that about humans you are bound to find all sorts of examples that show you are wrong.

Oh my heavens! Other than it being crappy art taking up space in a reference room....I don't see the hoopla. There has been some respesentations of Christ that were awful...and we were told..it is okay...it is just art.

Thank you for postin the link. It is a hard picture to look at but many pieces of art are just as hard to look at.
I still do not think that this should be a permanent piece of art in a library. I could see if it was this person's work that was displayed for a week.
I doubt that a child could find and figure out what is going on in that section of the painting and if they dd I would be questioning why that info is in their little head to begin with.
Just a side note. This depiction is AFTER the Civil War and so there are no slaves only lack people or the term used at the time.

I looked at the photo and personally find it rather out of place in a library. It's not just the one part but there are other parts that show nudity which has no place in a public library. I realize that it was in a section mainly adults use but if I was to go there then most likely my 4, 5 & 7 year olds would be with me. They do not need to be seeing it.

Here's the image I found. There are others, but this one is big enough to really see - the others were a little harder to see the whole thing, either from size or angle.

Well I went to the link and foundno picture. I would not assume rape without seeing the picture though.

okmanders Do you have a link to the picture? Before passing judgement I'd like to see it as well.