Foreword : SWEET LAND OF LIBERTY : 50 YEARS LATER

         

        Artist, author and activist John A. Wedda (1911-2014) was acutely aware of the social injustices and inequalities that existed in America during his lifetime. John’s sensitivity to the plight of others less fortunate than himself was always a crucial force in his life and in his work.

        This was due, in part, to his experience of growing up in Detroit during the Great Depression. From an early age, his ability to observe and to translate the human condition received notice. It led John on a creative journey that would take him around the world and allow him to connect with legendary personalities.

        John’s work is exhibited in major museums throughout the U.S. and in private collections all over the world. From his twenties, John was an important figure in the New York art and design scene. Later, he became a respected (if unorthodox) teacher at prestigious art schools. He went on to write books, design museum-quality furniture, and to create very magical Asian-inspired gardens. He continued to draw and paint even after becoming legally blind in his eighties.

         I had the honor of getting to know John a year before his death at age 102. Even then, he was still painting, still actively involved in making sure that others understood the dire consequences of our impact on the environment, and still campaigning tirelessly to make the world a better place.

        In one conversation about his life, he mentioned a small publication that he had privately printed called Sweet Land of Liberty. In the original was an enclosure that stated:

The human mind tends to erase horrors from its memory and, in time, names like Lidice and Dachau lose the sharpness of their meaning. This book was created as a graphic reminder of the horror and the glory that culminated in Selma, 1965.

The first 5000 copies are given, by the author and the ten Salisbury residents who paid for their production, to the NAACP Legal Defense Fund in the hope that they will prove to be a useful tool in the struggle to bring total democracy to America.

Salisbury, Connecticut                                               
John A. Wedda

May, 1965 

        As a publisher and as the mother and grandmother of multi-racial children, I am honored to re-issue this very meaningful work—one whose message remains a most urgent and necessary one. It is with the utmost respect for John A. Wedda, and for all the brave men and women who devoted their lives to the struggle for civil rights, that I now share this expression of hope for a more peaceful and evolved future for humanity.

Karen Mireau

June 2015