Races, Negroes: United States. Alabama. Tuskegee. Tuskegee Institute: Agencies Promoting Assimilation of the Negro. Training Negro Girls in Domestic Science. Tuskegee Institute, Tuskegee, Alabama: Cooking Division. 1902

Editor: So, this photograph, "Races, Negroes: United States. Alabama..." captures a cooking class at the Tuskegee Institute. There’s something unsettling about the captioning and the staging of the image. What’s your take on it? Curator: The image is presented as a neutral observation, yet it actively participates in a complex socio-political agenda. Note the paternalistic language in the title, "Agencies Promoting Assimilation..." It frames education not as empowerment, but as a tool for social control, doesn't it? Editor: It does. It’s like the image itself is performing assimilation. Curator: Precisely. Johnston, as a white photographer, is capturing Black women being trained in domestic skills, reinforcing gendered and racial hierarchies. What does that say about whose narrative is being privileged here? Editor: It definitely highlights the power dynamics at play. I hadn't thought of it that way. Curator: It’s a visual document ripe with contradictions, revealing the complexities and the often-oppressive nature of institutional education during that era. Food for thought, isn't it? Editor: Absolutely. I see so many more layers now.