The Unexpected Coincidence of Mr. Karl's Greatriarch Portrait

Mr. Karl Fredericksen by Danielle Harrell

I first met Karl Fredericksen at a Greatriarch Luncheon about a year ago. Mr. Karl was very open in talking to a complete stranger. It became apparent to me quite quickly that he was passionate about discovering and researching his ancestry. He told me about his roots, tracing back to a black woman suffering in slavery getting mixed up with her white slave owner, and where those two individuals came from. While I don't remember the details of the conversation, I remember Mr. Karl returning to the topic of slavery and reiterating the idea, “Why should I be ashamed? That is my history; that is where I came from."

A week or two later, I was tasked with the project of painting Karl Fredericksen a portrait for the Greatriarch Calendar of 2024. Following Abi Ogle's precedent, the original Greatriarch artist, I chose to reference famous African American artists in my portraits, which came with the extra step of research. I stumbled upon the artist Aaron Douglas, specifically his work, “Into Bondage." “Into Bondage" is a beautiful painting about slavery and seeing hope in the worst of times. When I saw Douglas's work, I immediately knew this was the one for Mr. Fredericksen's portrait.

Into Bondage by Aaron Douglas

After completing his portrait and the other five I did for my summer internship, I had the pleasure of revealing the portraits to the Greatriarchs at another luncheon. I remember my supervisor revealing Mr. Karl's artwork on my right, making eye contact with Karl, saying his name through the microphone, and seeing his eyes light up. I remember talking with him afterward in a very similar fashion to our first conversation but with his portrait propped up on a table and wall beside us. That was that. 

Imagine my surprise when I received an email a few weeks ago, practically at the one-year anniversary of completing his portrait, about Mr. Karl coming into the Harrison Center to give me a message. Attached in the email was a two-page document he found discussing his uncle's education at Fisk University and Meharry Medical College. I was quite confused. Why did Mr. Karl go through the trouble of sharing this with me?

Then I reached the last paragraph, which stated, “[Mr. Karl's uncle] has many pleasant memories of Fisk. But the two that he cherishes most are that he was in the last class that was taught by James Weldon Johnson and the first class that was taught by Aaron Douglas.”

I’m not sure how the artist I chose for Mr. Karl Fredericksen's portrait coincidentally had a personal connection to his family in the first place. It is crazy how some things just click into place.