Drawing on the visual tradition of the Renaissance period, Kara Walker’s triptych lays bare the horrific history and enduring legacy of the enslavement of Black people in the United States. In the central panel, a monumental statue of a nude Black woman is raised from the ground by ropes pulled by small-scale Black figures, an explicit reference to lynching and the tools of enslavement. Two white silhouettes of African American figures dressed in antebellum-style clothing flank the central image, just as patrons might feature in a Renaissance-era altarpiece. The woman at left bears a cross, a poignant symbol of Christian martyrdom that here evokes those who died in pursuit of emancipation or due to contemporary racial violence. In returning to these historic objects and formats, Walker investigates how monuments, such as Confederate statues, shape the lived experience of Black Americans. The central statue rising from the ground can be seen as an emblem of hope and reclamation—a proposition for how monuments and memorials can be reimagined to contend with historic and ongoing racial injustice.