Last Wednesday saw a very special gift to Umass Boston. Pearl Russo donated a painting by her late husband, Michael Russo, called “Descent From the Tree #2.” Michael Russo was born in Bridgeport, Connecticut in 1908 and later became a artist in Boston. At 23, he was awarded First Honorable Mention in the Prix de Rome competition for sculpture for his piece, Pieta. His career was then put on hold as he became a leader in the Communist Party, working for unemployment insurance, the right of workers to organize industrial unions, civil rights, and justice for all Americans. He picked up his career as an artist again in 1968 and continued with it until his death in 1998. Russo’s works are in many private and corporate collections across the United States and some can be seen close to home here on the UMass campus and at the Museum of Fine Arts.
As Mrs. Pearl Russo took to the podium she looked like a young mother whose child was going away for the first time. Without saying a word she looked into the crowd and looked at the wall, at the covered painting, and cried. She glanced to the crowd and began saying, “[Michael Russo] always had a warm spot in his heart for Umass. He felt a core there which touched him very deeply.”
Russo told a touching and sincere story about her husband and how he came to paint this picture. She explained that her husband had painted this picture after his friend, a black coal miner in West Virginia, showed him the tree where his brother had been lynched, saying “He never forgot, he never forgot that story and he told it over and over again.” Mrs. Russo began crying again, and the organizers revealed the picture.
Immediately following the viewing of the painting came a panel discussion about the emotions the painting evoked, held in the CPCS lounge. Refreshments were served, which is always a bonus. The room was packed; about thirty chairs faced the panel, and people were on the floor and lining the walls. CPCS Dean Ismael Ramirez-Soto hosted the panel and gave introductions.
Panelist Robert Johnson, chair of the Africana Studies Department, spoke first, giving much attention to the Dred Scott Case. For those of you who were asleep in class, the case involved a slave who was brought to a free state, Missouri. Upon his master’s death, Scott sued the state for his freedom on the grounds that, since slavery was outlawed in Missouri, he was now a free man. The case went all the way to the supreme court, which ruled in 1857 that slaves were property, and didn’t have the right to sue in federal court. As Johnson stated, “Racism was the official policy of this time.” He discussed in great detail the Judges of the time and stated, “The government set the tone for lynching. It was not just rednecks.”
Next to speak was Chris Nteta, CPCS professor, saying, “It would be a mistake to view lynching as a random act of violence. Lynching is justifiable homicide. It was never treated as a crime. Lynching is a mechanism of control.” He reminded the audience of an exceptionally horrific case of lynching. In 1918 Mary Taylor was soaked with gasoline, burned and lynched with her abdomen sliced open and her unborn eight-month-old child dangling from her. Out of all the examples and stories shared that afternoon, that had to be the most frightening.
Closing the panel, Regina Rodriguez-Mitchell, took the stand saying, “When we hear the word lynching it evokes memories.” She focused on the media and the use of the word, citing celebrities such as Michael Jackson and Clearance Thomas. An artist in the audience, Eleanor Rubin, commented, “I thought it helped me to think about things. That I don’t have sources readily at hand, a variety of points of view. It was a healthy interest to the audience as well as mine.”