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

Editor: This photograph, titled "Part of the Dairy Herd" at the Tuskegee Institute, presents a seemingly peaceful pastoral scene. However, the accompanying text about "Agencies Promoting Assimilation of the Negro" casts a more complex shadow. What are your thoughts on the image's historical context? Curator: Johnston's photograph is part of a larger commissioned series documenting the Tuskegee Institute. It's crucial to understand that these images were often used to promote a particular narrative of Black uplift through industrial training, a narrative shaped by both the institute and its white benefactors. Editor: So, it's not just a simple picture of cows; it's about control and a specific vision of progress. Curator: Precisely. The institute's focus on agriculture, while seemingly benign, was also a way of directing Black labor within the existing racial power structures of the time. The photo normalizes this vision. Editor: That's a perspective I hadn't considered. It really changes how I view the image. Curator: Understanding the historical context allows us to critically examine the photograph's role in shaping perceptions of race, education, and labor in early 20th-century America.