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The inspiration for this body of work stems from the artist’s intrigued with jobs held by kin in my family tree, such as, tobacco stemmer, coal miner, fishmonger, grocer, etc. She refers to it as her post-runaway series and is curious about how folks earned a living once they were emancipated. While researching historical context of her subjects, she made the fortuitous discovery of Dr. Cater G. Woodson’s and Lorenzo J. Greene’s book, “Negro Wage Earners”, in which they described many of the jobs and conditions under which free African Americans worked post-slavery. The title of the series is from a poem written by one of America’s favorite poets, Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, who was an abolitionist and author of many poems in which slavery was subject. The poem, “The Ladder of St. Augustine”, reads in part: “The heights by great men reached and kept | Were not attained by sudden flight, | But they, while their companions slept, | Were toiling upward in the night.”

Cora Marshall, born in Washington, DC, received her B.F.A. from Howard University; Master of Science in Education from Bank Street College of Education with Parsons School of Design; and her doctorate in art from New York University. Dr. Marshall, Professor Emeritus, served as chairperson of the Department of Art at Central Connecticut State University 2006 - 2012. Marshall has exhibited both internationally and nationally including National Conference of Artists; Kumasi, Ghana; A.I.R. Gallery NYC; Skylight Restoration Gallery in Brooklyn; Hammonds House Gallery in Atlanta; Pittsburgh Center for the Arts; Craftery Gallery, in Hartford; the Rosenburg Gallery at NYU; and Picture That, LLC, Stamford, CT with multiple venues. Dr. Marshall's...