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STRATEGY# 5
Text and images from For Black Suffragists, the LensWas a Mighty Sword by Sarah ElizabethLewis
WASHINGTON
In a 1909 group portrait, the suffragist Nannie Helen Burroughsappears undaunted. Burroughsis central, framed by a black doorway at the NationalTraining School in Washington, D.C.
Libraryof Congress
Consider an image of the Black suffragist Nannie Helen Burroughs, aleader of the Women's Convention of the NationalBaptist Convention,
who exemplifiedthe crucial role of Black women's organizingwork in
the Black church aroundthe turn of the century, as historians
EvelynBrooks Higginbotham, Sharon Harleyand Rosalyn
Terborg-Penn have shownintheir landmark scholarship.
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STRATEGY # 5
Text and images from “ For Black Suffragists , the Lens Was a Mighty Sword by Sarah ElizabethLewis
MISS GARRITY .
PHOTOGRAPHER. CHICAGO
National Portrait Gallery , Smithsonian Institution
Other Black suffragists, including Ida B. Wells -Barnett , also worked tomarshal the power of images as an instrument of agency . Out of the
large number of images she deployed in publications and
correspondence , many are startling in their clarity born of her study of
the conventions of various photographs to dramatize , as the scholar
Leigh Raiford argues, “Black womanhood , the sanctity of the Black
family, and the credibility ofAmerican civilization as a whole .” This
includes a portrait from 1893 taken in Chicago , showing every detail ofher black lace bodice and strands of her hair. The image does not
merely convey the skill the photography studio, it capturesWells -Barnett's own intention to accent her singularity .
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STRATEGY # 5
Text and images from “ For Black Suffragists , the Lens Was a Mighty Sword by Sarah ElizabethLewis
This commanding portrait of Sarah Parker Remond, part of the early generation ofAfrican-American
suffragists, was taken circa 1865. Peabody Essex Museum
The commanding portrait of Sarah Parker Remond, part of the early
generation of Black suffragists , testifies to how photographs operate to
challenge being denied access to public spaces . Inthis portrait, circa, taken slightly from below, and empty save a column base , her
immaculately fashioned figure appears fully gathered . Remond, who is
thought to be the only Black woman to sign the first women's suffrage
petition in Britain in 1866 and whose prominence grew when she
contested her forcible ejection after she refused segregated seating to
attend an opera in Boston in 1853, sits with her hands on her lap, both
a subject inviting the gaze and entitled to space .
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STRATEGY # 5
Text and images from “ For Black Suffragists , the Lens Was a Mighty Sword by Sarah ElizabethLewis
Library of Congress
We see what DeborahWillis, a pioneeringphotohistorian, considersthe declarative andcorrective function ofportraits, too, inthe archived
images ofMaryChurchTerrell. Terrellwas the first Presidentof thelandmarkNationalAssociationofColoredWomen, and led a
successful fight to end segregation in restaurantsinWashington, D.C.
Ina three-quarter lengthportrait, Terrell appears seatedina woodenchair in a well-fittedwhite lace dress. Leaningto one side, she gazes at
the viewers of the photographas iftaking their measure. Herportrait
telegraphedwhat following decades wouldconfirm modelofself-possessionand dignifiedrepose, she was effectivelypoised to
occupythe role of leaderand an esteemed elder inthe rights-basedmovement.
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