While Thanksgiving in the US is an increasingly fraught holiday—both in terms of historical reckoning and dinner table conversation—my sincere wish is that you were able to experience rest, gratitude, and time with loved ones last week.
Before we fully turn the page from Thanksgiving to Advent and winter wonderlands, I am excited to share with you not one but two new essays about Thanksgiving. More specifically, two new essays that engage with an iconic Thanksgiving painting by Norman Rockwell (Freedom from Want). Julene Tegerstrand considers the painting’s original placement in the Saturday Evening Post alongside an essay about injustice from Filipino activist Carlos Bulosan. Liz Charlotte Grant traces the transformation of Rockwell in his later years from conservative artist to progressive activist.
“From the start, Norman Rockwell’s Freedom from Want was meant to be in conversation with Filipino activist Carlos Bulosan’s reminder that freedom means little if some are kept from the table.”
“Why does it matter that one man changed his mind? I can only answer for myself: I’m struggling to hope that any American can change their mind about politics. The story of Norman Rockwell could not be clearer in this regard—a man who once idolized the politics of privacy and conservatism spent his influence in his late years rallying for Civil Rights, for nuclear disarmament, for the eradication of poverty.”
