The DMA presents Hale A. Woodruff’s Amistad Paintings, a monumental mural that commemorates the centennial of the 1839 Amistad revolt. The three paintings—The Mutiny on the Amistad, The Trial of the Amistad Captives, and The Reparation of the Freed Captives—were created by the American painter Hale Woodruff in 1938 as a commission for a new library at Talladega College and were intended to serve as a symbol of "interracial harmony and intellectual advancement.” Together, the paintings tell the story of a group of kidnapped Africans, members of the Mende people, who mutinied for their freedom aboard the ship La Amistad. The mutineers were tried in the U.S. and acquitted of the charges against them, with the surviving members of the uprising returning to West Africa. Co-organized by the Terra Foundation for American Art and Art Bridges, this exhibition celebrates the inspiring vision and powerful legacy of Woodruff and Talladega College that brought this important moment in American history to life.
The Dallas Museum of Art is supported, in part, by generous DMA Members and donors, the Texas Commission on the Arts, and the citizens of Dallas through the City of Dallas Office of Arts and Culture.
Images: The Mutiny on the Amistad, 1939. Hale A. Woodruff (1900–1980) assisted by Robert L. Neal (1916–1987). Oil on canvas. Courtesy of Terra Foundation for American Art, Daniel J. Terra Art Acquisition Fund, and Art Bridges Foundation. Commissioned by Buell G. Gallagher and George W. Crawford for Talladega College, Savery Library, Alabama. The commission was supported in part by the American Missionary Association of New York (AMA), 1939. © 2026 Estate of Hale Woodruff / Represented by Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York; The Trial of the Amistad Captives, 1939. Hale A. Woodruff (1900–1980) assisted by Robert L. Neal (1916–1987). Oil on canvas. Courtesy of Terra Foundation for American Art, Daniel J. Terra Art Acquisition Fund, and Art Bridges Foundation. Commissioned by Buell G. Gallagher and George W. Crawford for Talladega College, Savery Library, Alabama. The commission was supported in part by the American Missionary Association of New York (AMA), 1939. © 2026 Estate of Hale Woodruff / Represented by Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York; The Repatriation of the Freed Captives, 1939. Hale A. Woodruff (1900–1980) assisted by Robert L. Neal (1916–1987). Oil on canvas. Courtesy of Terra Foundation for American Art, Daniel J. Terra Art Acquisition Fund, and Art Bridges Foundation. Commissioned by Buell G. Gallagher and George W. Crawford for Talladega College, Savery Library, Alabama. The commission was supported in part by the American Missionary Association of New York (AMA), 1939. © 2026 Estate of Hale Woodruff / Represented by Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York.