Races, Negroes: United States. Virginia. Hampton. Hampton Normal and Industrial School: Agencies Promoting Assimilation of the Negro. Development of Social Standards Among the Negroes. Hampton Normal and Agricultural Institute, Hampton, Va.: Seniors Reading Shakespeare. 1899 - 1900

Curator: This photograph by Frances Benjamin Johnston captures a classroom scene at the Hampton Normal and Agricultural Institute in Virginia. It's titled "Races, Negroes: United States. Virginia. Hampton...Seniors Reading Shakespeare." Editor: It’s a powerful image, imbued with a sense of forced formality. The desks and costumes almost feel like props for assimilation. Curator: Precisely. Johnston's work often documented the development of social standards among African Americans at this institute, a key player in that era's complex politics of race and education. The act of reading Shakespeare becomes deeply symbolic. Editor: Yes, it speaks volumes about the labor involved in the deliberate performance of social elevation and respectability through dress and recitation. Curator: Absolutely. It shows us the constraints and the aspirations of a community navigating a very specific moment in American history. Editor: Indeed, a fascinating look at how identity and selfhood were being constructed through material conditions and institutional practices.