Races, Negroes: United States. Virginia. Hampton. Hampton Normal and Industrial School: Agencies Promoting Assimilation of the Negro: Training for Commercial and Industrial Employment. Hampton Normal and Agricultural Institute, Hampton, Va.: Studying the Cow. 1899 - 1900

Editor: This photograph, taken by Frances Benjamin Johnston, is titled "Studying the Cow," and it seems to depict a scene at the Hampton Normal and Agricultural Institute. I’m struck by the composition - a group of students intently observing a cow. What historical narratives do you see at play here? Curator: It's crucial to consider the context. The Hampton Institute aimed to assimilate Black Americans through industrial and agricultural training. The photograph stages a vision of Black students learning practical skills. But this image participates in the problematic narrative of "uplift," suggesting that Black people needed to be taught basic skills to be considered equal, and it ignores existing knowledge systems. How do you interpret the power dynamics visualized in this scene? Editor: It is unsettling to consider the ways the photograph promoted harmful stereotypes of progress and assimilation. Curator: Exactly. It is a reminder of the complex and often contradictory role art plays in shaping social perceptions.