Synopsis
Studs Terkel interviews the artist Gene Hall who created "The Black Christ Not Worthy Of Its Cross" and the head of the Loyola University Sociology Department, Dr. Paul Mundy, who used the title and painting reproduction to spark classroom discussions. Hall describes the creation of his 6 ft tall by 2 1/2 feet wide painting and how seeing the color of Christ diminishes Christ. You don't see Christ when you see color. Hall uses barbed wire instead of thorns in the painting to signify there is no time in painting, it is up to date. Crucifiction goes on as long as man offends God by offending another man. Mundy describes the wire as man's imprisonment, torment or his being in a democratic but deeply discriminatory society. Listeners hear the reactions of a Chicago youth who believes people like the image of Christ to be like them. The college students in Mundy's Minority Relations course are disturbed by the painting reproduction and title. Also, four negro nuns at a Liturgical Conference who saw the painting first hand were shocked and hurt by the Black Christ not being worthy of the cross until it was explained that the title was satirical. Hall believes the painting must create its own mood. The recording ends abruptly at 28:36 minutes.
