The Turtle Pound 1898

Winslow Homer created this watercolor painting, called *The Turtle Pound*, at an unknown date. Homer was working in the post-Reconstruction era, a period marked by both progress and persistent racial tensions in the United States. Here, Homer portrays two dark-skinned men in or near the water, one holding a large sea turtle. The man in the water seems to be delivering the turtle to the other man, who's behind a wooden structure that may be the turtle pound. These are bodies at work. Homer often depicted African Americans in his art, yet his representations were frequently debated. Did they perpetuate stereotypes, or did they offer sympathetic portrayals of Black life? There is a tension between celebrating labor and the grim reality of the limited economic opportunities available to African Americans at the time. It's a powerful, evocative work that prompts us to reflect on labor, race, and representation in American art and society.