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: This photograph by Frances Benjamin Johnston captures scenes from the Hampton Normal and Agricultural Institute. It's titled, "Races, Negroes: United States. Virginia. Hampton… Agencies Promoting Assimilation of the Negro." Quite a mouthful! Editor: It certainly is. My first thought is how the image is bisected, showing both a wheelwright shop and carriage painting, presenting two halves of a story. It feels very deliberate, and almost didactic. Curator: It's interesting that you use the word "didactic" because Johnston created these photographs to document the successes of the Hampton Institute in its mission to train African Americans. Editor: Exactly! The arrangement feels staged. The symbols in the image, like the tools and vehicles, are meant to convey themes of progress, industry, and uplift. The very wheels of industry, being carefully constructed. Curator: I agree, and consider how these carefully composed images were deployed to shape public perception. It makes me question the authentic experience of education in the photograph. What do you think? Editor: I'm left wondering about the unseen stories behind the photographs, the realities beyond the carefully constructed scenes. Curator: Definitely food for thought, as we look at this carefully framed historical moment.