Every February, Ameri­cans throughout the country celebrate Black History Month, founded by Dr. Carter Woodson in 1920 to preserve the heritage of Africans and African Americans.

Woodson picked February as the month of celebration in order to honor the birth of two men whose actions revolutionized the lives of future generations of black Americans: Abraham Lincoln and Frederick Douglass. Since its inception, Black History Month has drawn our attention to recollections, not only of black Americans’ past achievements and contributions, but also of the hardships they endured and the struggles they faced while fighting to escape slavery.

Prof. Cheryl Finley, history of art, explores this aspect of black American history in Committed to Memory: The Slave Ship Icon in the Black Atlantic Imagination, to be published this year. Finley examines the historical uses, interpretations and adaptations of a black-and-white schematic print named “Des­cription of a Slave Ship,” the most recognized image associated with the memory of slavery and the Middle Passage.

Rock the Boat: This diagram, entitled “Description of a Slave Ship,” has had a profound impact on black history.“I am interested in looking at how artists reuse, re-employ, re-deploy and re-imagine this image, especially in the past 50 years,” Finley said. “I am especially interested in finding out why visual artists working in the 1960s, as well as in 2010, still find the image urgent and relevant when talking about the connectedness of African Amer­icans, African diaspora and African American identity.”

Published in 1789, “Des­cription of a Slave Ship” attained an iconic status in the antislavery movement in England and the United States.

“The image was first made to protest a bill before Parliament, calling for better conditions on board for both the enslaved and sailors.” Finley said, “Eventually, it helped rally enough support to end the slave trade in England in 1807. Later, it became important in fighting the slave trade in the United States. It helped organize the abolition movement.”

The image shocked the general public through its revelation of the inhumanity and horror on slave ships, previously only hinted at through word of mouth or statistics compiled by the government. It allowed the abolitionists to use it as a visual argument to extend their campaign from enforcing stricter regulations on slave ships to bringing a complete end to the practice.

“Description of a Slave Ship” provided the first graphical illustration of how tightly Africans were packed as human cargo on slave ships. Mathematical calculations describing the space per man and documentations of incidents of torture accompanied the image. By the end of the 18th century, more than 200,000 impressions of the print had been reproduced and disseminated around the Atlantic regions.

While the slave trade end­ed long ago, the image’s prominence in the abolitionist movement survived. “Artists engage in the practice of mnemonic aesthetics, meaning they use the image repetitively in different art forms,” Finley said. “They duplicate the image of the slave ship and install it in their own artwork. For example, Eugene Lee, a scenic designer, used the image as an inspiration and created a set of uncomfortable benches as part of a set for a play that the audience had to sit on. He wanted the audience to feel the same movement that the slaves experienced when they travelled on slave ships at sea.”

By inserting “Description of a Slave Ship” in their artwork, artists refresh and pass on the memories and history associated with the image. “Reusing the image represents a symbolic possession of the image from the past. It helps us preserve the images that are threatening to disappear,” Finley said. “It reminds us of where we came from. At the same time, it teases out questions about how we came to be part of the African diaspora.”

Finley’s study focuses on not only that which leaves an imprint in our minds but also on that which fades from our memories into oblivion. “My work is not just about memory, it’s also about forgetting. What role does forgetting have when an image is put aside?” Finley said, “What do silences mean when the image is not actively engaged by artists? That also leads me to questions concerning museum environments and international monuments. How do these institutions create exhibits to memorialize the history of slave trade?”

The theme of identity search permeates Finley’s research, which she believes students will relate to.

“My research would be interesting to students because it touches on issues that students would be interested in. [Students] are always interpreting images in history and in memory,” she said. “ They are always trying to understand their relationships to things that they are interested in, people, body and sexuality… My work engages questions that are pressing for students.”