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. 1899 - 1900

Curator: Frances Benjamin Johnston created this photographic collage, "Races, Negroes: United States. Virginia. Hampton," offering a glimpse into the Hampton Normal and Agricultural Institute. Editor: My first thought? The stark contrast between the sterile cow barn and the open field where students are "studying the cow"—it’s strangely pastoral, almost utopian, but with an undercurrent I can't quite place. Curator: The composition, with its focus on structure and labor, suggests an attempt to quantify and control the narrative of assimilation. The cow barn is a model of efficiency; the students, objects of study themselves. Editor: It’s unsettling, isn’t it? The phrase "Agencies Promoting Assimilation" hangs over these scenes. I feel a profound sense of imposed order and the quiet struggle within it. Curator: The artist uses light and shadow to emphasize the rigid geometry of the architecture, contrasting it with the more natural, organic form of the cow and the students. Almost like a lesson in fitting in. Editor: Yes, and perhaps Johnston, intentionally or not, reveals the problematic nature of enforced assimilation. It's a chillingly beautiful piece that leaves you with more questions than answers.