Theoretical Democracy

The Flag is Bleeding" (1967) by Faith Ringgold

Theoretical Democracy
Cultural & Intellectual History

Lesson 6

Faith Ringgold was a member of the "Judson Three," a group of artists found guilty of desecrating the American flag on their canvases at the People's Flag Show in Judson Memorial Church, November 1970. Faith Ringgold once said that "The flag is the only truly subversive and revolutionary abstraction one can paint" (Fine,The Afro-American Artist,209).

Consideration:

In Symbolizing America, Herve Varenne states, among other considerations, that American culture is a political event. He proposes that most people live "in terms of America" rather than "in" it, since America is not a physical entity. Thus America can be regarded as the embodiment of an idea.

Question 1:

If Ringgold has painted what she considers is a truly subversive and revolutionary abstraction, if she has painted an idea about what she accepts she understands, would you agree that she should or should not have been found guilty? What law(s) did she or did she not break?

Write your thoughts here

Your Name:

Your E-Mail Address:

Mail to:

Subject:

(L6Q1)

Your response:

Consideration:

Martin Luther King, Jr. proposed what many regarded as a subversive and revolutionary idea when he declared that an unjust law is no law at all.

Feedback:

Read Dr. King's "Letter from a Birmingham Jail," to study how he reasoned that an unjust law is no law at all.

Assignment:

(Select a or b not both)

a) Dr. King determined that an unjust law was not a law. He decided, for example that as a citizen of the united States he was being told that without a permit he could not march to petition for civil rights. He marched anyway because he reasoned he would not be breaking any laws. Of course, once he marched, he was arrested. If you agree with Dr. King that he was not breaking any law, write a persuasive essay either that assesses as a political event his breaking of an unjust law; or that the country's enforcement of an unjust law against Dr. King and any other United States citizen was a political event.

Mountain Top speech

b) Given that Ringgold was accused of desecrating what she considered to be an abstraction, relative to her expressing an idea "in terms of America," rather than actually crawling "in"(side) of a flag to desecrate it, write a persuasive essay either that assesses a guilty verdict against her as a political event; or what she did as a political event.

Write your reply here

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Consideration:	In Symbolizing America, Herve Varenne states, among other considerations, that American culture is a political event. He proposes that most people live "in terms of America" rather than "in" it, since America is not a physical entity. Thus America can be regarded as the embodiment of an idea.
Question 1:	If Ringgold has painted what she considers is a truly subversive and revolutionary abstraction, if she has painted an idea about what she accepts she understands, would you agree that she should or should not have been found guilty? What law(s) did she or did she not break? Write your thoughts here
Your Name:
Your E-Mail Address:
Mail to:
Subject:
(L6Q1) Your response:
Consideration:	Martin Luther King, Jr. proposed what many regarded as a subversive and revolutionary idea when he declared that an unjust law is no law at all.
Feedback:	Read Dr. King's "Letter from a Birmingham Jail," to study how he reasoned that an unjust law is no law at all.
Assignment: (Select a or b not both)	a) Dr. King determined that an unjust law was not a law. He decided, for example that as a citizen of the united States he was being told that without a permit he could not march to petition for civil rights. He marched anyway because he reasoned he would not be breaking any laws. Of course, once he marched, he was arrested. If you agree with Dr. King that he was not breaking any law, write a persuasive essay either that assesses as a political event his breaking of an unjust law; or that the country's enforcement of an unjust law against Dr. King and any other United States citizen was a political event.
	Mountain Top speech b) Given that Ringgold was accused of desecrating what she considered to be an abstraction, relative to her expressing an idea "in terms of America," rather than actually crawling "in"(side) of a flag to desecrate it, write a persuasive essay either that assesses a guilty verdict against her as a political event; or what she did as a political event. Write your reply here