Races, Negroes: United States. Alabama. Tuskegee. Tuskegee Institute: Agencies Promoting Assimilation of the Negro. Training for Commercial and Industrial Employment. Tuskegee Institute, Tuskegee, Alabama: Machine Shop. 1902

Editor: This is a black and white photograph by Frances Benjamin Johnston, taken at the Tuskegee Institute. It depicts a machine shop, and I’m struck by the sense of purpose in their faces, and also the heavy weight of the machinery. What do you see in this image? Curator: I see a record of a moment fraught with both promise and constraint, a visual document of the Tuskegee Institute’s mission. Look at the way the light falls. Does it feel like hope, or something more complicated? It speaks volumes about the era's complex ideas about education and opportunity for Black Americans. Editor: It's almost like the machines themselves are metaphors. Curator: Exactly! What do you make of the composition, the way Johnston frames these individuals? Does it feel balanced, staged, or authentic to you? Editor: I see what you mean. There's a sense of pride but also, perhaps, a pre-determined path. I hadn't thought of it that way before.