Black or White-in Struggle United!

"We know only one race, we recognize only one enemy-the exploiting class." A-I-Z, X, 26 (4July 1931), In Scottsboro, Alabama, nine black men between the ages of 13 and 20 were picked up on 25 March 1931 and accused of raping two young white women. On 13 and 14 June 1931, on International Workers' Aid Day in Germany, hundreds of thousands demonstrated against American racial "justice." (The last surviving "Scottsboro boy" was given a full pardon in 1976.) This issue of A-I-Z was a special combined issue on racial injustice. Heartfield used the same montage for a poster in 1961.

" John Heartfield is one of the most important European artists. He works in a field that he created himself, the field of photomontage. Through this new form of art he exercises social criticism. Steadfastly on the side of the working class, he unmasked the forces of the Weimar Republic driving toward war; driven into exile he fought against Hitler. The works of this great artist, which mainly appeared in the workers' press, are regarded as classics by many, including the author of these lines." —Bertolt Brecht

Images & Text are from the Book: John Heartfield - Photomontages of the Nazi Period (c) '77 Universe Books - New York

Was this the first time, that a graphic image of the raised fist, was used as a symbol of protest against racial injustice?

For further info. on VFU lectures by George Kasey on "Big Sugar, Minus ZPG and Black History"

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