Joyce J. Scott draws upon Native American beadwork techniques, Yorùbá artistic traditions, current events, and folklore to create a body of work that addresses issues of gender and the Black experience in America. Her confrontational and assertive jewelry and sculptures undermine the stereotype of beadwork as a docile, feminine handcraft. These explorations into the political agency of craft contributed to her being named a fellow of the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation in 2016. At the center of this necklace from 2006 is a partially naked figure chained at the foot and neck. The figure is accompanied by stylized flowers, overscale body parts, and letters forming the phrase “None Are Free until All Are Free.” Do the godlike head and arm convey freedom, per the words woven through the necklace, or do they depict a captor attempting to restrain the figure? Scott’s composition is deliberately ambivalent, echoing the often-contradictory legacy of slavery in the United States.