Susan Pear Meisel, (American, b. 1947), Statue of Liberty, NYC, 1977, screenprint, 40 ½” x 29 ½”, gift of the artist. 

This celebratory image depicts the Statue of Liberty as unmoving and strong as the virtues associated with her. People rally around the American symbol of freedom and acceptance for everyone.

Ben Johnson, (American), And Justice For All, oil on canvas, 32” x 47”, gift of Leonard Bocour. 

This image of incarceration, reminiscent of slavery, illustrates the idea that fair and equal “justice for all” is not a virtue America can boast. Rather, we are repeating our past indiscretions with a new vigor and veiled strategies.


Those eternal words “all Men are created equal” that are featured in our Declaration of Independence have come to signify equality and justice as cardinal virtues embedded in our nation’s founding. The Fourteenth Amendment promises the equal protection of life, liberty, and property, but the law which is fair on paper is all too frequently prejudiced in its application. While the United States prides itself on these virtues, the reality is far different. Jim Crow laws, created after the abolition of slavery, prevented black Americans from gaining equal employment and accommodation for almost a full century after the amendment’s passage; Native Americans did not receive the right to vote until 1924. Still today, people of color are more likely to experience poverty, harsher punitive sentences, more obstacles in voting, and substandard education. In place of justice, there is discrimination caused by a system of privileges and advantages for some and disadvantages for others. Until justice learns equality, discrimination will reign.