Races, Negroes: United States. Virginia. Hampton. Hampton Normal and Industrial School: Environments Impeding the Assimilation of the Negro. Hampton Normal and Agricultural Institute, Hampton, Va. 1899 - 1900

Curator: This photographic print by Frances Benjamin Johnston presents a diptych of domestic spaces. It's titled "Races, Negroes: United States. Virginia. Hampton. Hampton Normal and Industrial School: Environments Impeding the Assimilation of the Negro." The photos were taken near the Hampton Normal and Agricultural Institute. Editor: The stark contrast between the images is immediately striking. On one side, a worn, rustic cabin; on the other, a neat, two-story house. It feels like a visual argument. Curator: Indeed. Johnston’s photographs were often used to promote or critique social policies. Here, the juxtaposition subtly argues for the civilizing influence of institutions like Hampton, contrasting it against what she frames as hindering environments. Editor: The loaded title reveals so much. It positions assimilation as the desired outcome while framing certain environments, presumably those associated with Black communities, as "impeding" progress. It's a clear power dynamic at play. Curator: Precisely. It reflects the complex and often contradictory goals of industrial schools like Hampton, which aimed to educate Black students while simultaneously reinforcing existing social hierarchies. Editor: Examining the images critically, we see how photography was wielded as a tool to support specific narratives—narratives that need challenging and re-contextualizing today. Curator: Absolutely. Johnston's work, while visually compelling, needs to be understood within the historical framework of racial inequality and the politics of representation.