Farmers Nooning, by William Sidney Mount (1807–1868)
To Use This Document
With Your Students
Date
1836
Description
Four men and a small boy resting; the black man is asleep on a pile of hay and the boy is teasing his ear with a piece of straw; a man at the lower right is wearing a tall hat and is laying face down with his head on his arms; the man in the center has his back to the viewer and is watching the boy; the man on the left side is sitting on some hay with a tree at his back. This painting, capturing a local scene of Stony Brook farmers resting at midday, became widely known as an engraving distributed to members of the Apollo Association. Mount’s realistic depiction of the Black man at center, unusual during a time when depictions of African Americans were often caricatured to include racist stereotypes, respects the farmer. The man who modeled for Mount was likely born enslaved prior to New York State’s 1827 abolition of slavery, or else forced to serve his mother’s enslaver. This seemingly innocent scene of rest displays this man’s newfound freedom and ownership of his own time and labor. However, the young boy disturbing the Black farmer, while the white men lounge in the shade, alludes to continuing inequality.
Type
Image
Region
Long Island
Era
Expansion and Reform
Topic
African Americans, Agriculture, Community, Labor
Repository
Identifier
0000.001.1521
Source
Long Island Museum, Stony Brook, NY, Gift of Frederick Sturges Jr., 1954
Rights
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