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

Editor: This photograph, taken by Frances Benjamin Johnston, shows the Laundry Division at the Tuskegee Institute. It looks like a very ordered scene, but also quite sterile. What do you see in this piece? Curator: It certainly is layered, isn't it? On one hand, the scene conveys a sense of productivity and industriousness. But my mind also wanders into the complexities of that time, and the ways in which education was used, well, let's say, directed. What are your thoughts? Editor: It's unsettling, really. I hadn't considered the possible limitations of the education shown here. Curator: Exactly! It's a photo that whispers and shouts at the same time. Now, that's art. Editor: Definitely gives you a lot to think about.