Evergood's
early commentary on racial issues in the 1950's depicts four black men
gagged, roped and hanging from the Tree of Life which represents the
unique interconnectedness of life. In the background, imprisoned blacks
look on thru a barbed wire fence. Whites watch in horror but do nothing
to help. Meanwhile, a two legged and three headed serpent who symbolizes
evil , wraps himself around the tree that physically and symbolically
separate the races. This is an important work in the history of American
art. It may be one of the very earliest examples of a major American
painter doing a major work that challenges racial segregation and
injustice at a time when no one else would.

The title of the work is inspired from a Historic Supreme Court
decision on racial segregation. The Little Rock Nine was a group of nine
African American students enrolled in Little Rock Central High School
in 1957. Their enrollment was followed by the Little Rock Crisis, in
which the students were initially prevented from entering the racially
segregated school by Orval Faubus, the Governor of Arkansas. They then
attended after the intervention of President Dwight D. Eisenhower.

The U.S. Supreme Court issued its historic Brown v. Board of
Education of Topeka, Kansas, on May 17, 1954. Tied to the 14th
Amendment, the decision declared all laws establishing segregated
schools to be unconstitutional, and it called for the desegregation of
all schools throughout the nation. After the decision, NAACP attempted
to register black students in previously all-white schools in cities
throughout the South. In Little Rock, the capital city of Arkansas, the
Little Rock School Board agreed to comply with the high court's ruling.
Virgil Blossom, the Superintendent of Schools, submitted a plan of
gradual integration to the school board on May 24, 1955, which the board
unanimously approved. The plan would be implemented during the fall of
the 1957 school year, which would begin in September 1957.

There are two themes that define this work .

The Artist.

In 1954, few white people could see American racial issues and have the courage to make a bold public stance about it.
This painting is an act of bravery. It’s about Vision. It’s about Guts.

The Art.

Evergood was a Jewish American, fresh with the horrors of WWII in his mind.

Nazi Germany exterminated Jews. Evergood felt America was exterminating Blacks.

The world looked on with horror the1940’s but did not do anything. In this work, whites look on with horror do nothing.

The White House and and a concentration camp like building are seen together.

It’s not one black man being killed, i’s a group of blacks that are systematically killed in the same way.

Imprisoned blacks, witnessing the execution as they grasp the prison bars. Are they next in line for the death gallows?

Evergood is saying that this is America’s Holocaust.