These three paintings individually have powerful imagery that, when brought together, represent American society during The Civil War. They depict the controversy over the literacy of slaves, and their right to fight in the war.

The Contraband, which depicts an African American man who seems to be preparing to set of to war, is the first of the three paintings. The title the "Contraband" refers to the man, who appears in the painting, but contrabands are smuggled goods, or in the case of war, they are goods not to be supplied by a neutral party to a contending party. Essentially, Wood is calling the slave population goods that should not be supplied to either the North or the South. The slave population could have been deemed neutral because, at the time, the White Americans believed that the slaves had conflicting interests. The slaves were assumed to have a certain amount of loyalty to their masters, this conflicted with their own desire for freedom. This painting directly deals with the controversy that occurred during the Civil War over allowing the slaves to fight on either side.

The man in the painting appears to be

This painting depicts the rush of the industrial revolution in America as well as the atmosphere of a city. There are street lamps and what looks to be flashing lights and noise, due to the arrangement of the different colors of gray. The gold number 5 becomes bigger and bigger, which represents both the forward growth of America through industry and the movement of a city. Not only however does the change in size of the number 5 signify the growth of industry, but it also resembles the growth of the American economy. The American currency, which had been backed up by both gold and silver before 1873, was for a while after the Crime of 1873 only gold. However, an achievement while the progressives were in government was to get silver back into the currency. After that industry, big business and trade helped to increase the American economy into something that it had never been, while both silver and gold act as the currency. The grey in this work represents silver while the grey and the gold number 5 join together to create the picture. This painting depicts the greatness and importance of American cities as well. Interestingly, the artist, Charles Demuth, created this work inspired by the poet William Carlos Williams. These fact models the growing importance for art and literature that America felt would help raise its poor socially and economically. The painting as a whol

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