Alexander II Proclaiming the Emancipation of the Serfs

Alexander II Proclaiming the Emancipation of the Serfs

Tsar Alexander II is the person in the middle of the crowd wearing a white and red coat. In his hand, he is holding the emancipation manifesto that he released in 1861. Surrounding him are Russian serfs who have just been liberated, and landowners who are now defeated and no longer held the power they did before. In the background, you can see people celebrating the great achievements of emancipation. According to Amanda Bellow's “American Slavery and Russian Serfdom in the Post-Emancipation Imagination,” there were mixed emotions about the emancipation of serfs similar to the emancipation of slaves in the US. Unlike the US, the Russian government had strong censorship laws that stopped citizens from voicing their opinions. According to an officer who was on duty the day of the Tsar emancipation announcement the sun rose as peacefully as it came down. Unlike the U.S there was no civil war in Russia and landowners had to just accept defeat. All these different ideas are portrayed in the picture. Tsar and emancipation documents are the focal point in the picture emphasizing how enormous and important his announcement was in the history of Russia. Then, next to Tsar you can see land owners who are dressed in what looks like a fur coat on their knees. In the right hand corner you can see a man make a face of disgust with a child looking at him in confusion. This is a symbol of the defeat landowners felt because once Tsar announced the extreme censorship in Russia would prohibit landowners from voicing their opinions against emancipation. In the very back of the picture you can see surfs celebrating with their first and hats in the air symbolizing how much it meant to them to be able to finally own land, own their business, and marry whoever they wanted.

Cristian Diaz-Santos

“In Our Time, the Emancipation of the Serfs.” BBC Radio 4, BBC, 17 May 2018, https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b0b2gspd.

[VNV], Bellows Amanda Brickell. American Slavery and Russian Serfdom in the Post-Emancipation Imagination. University of North Carolina Press, 2020.

GUSTAV DITTENBERGER (AUSTRIAN-RUSSIAN 1794-1879)

1861