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Back
to Exhibits
Photograph Album
with Cyanotypes. Richard Riley, [ca. 1896-1903].
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GLC
5140-03-13
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Displayed
here are photographs from the Calhoun Industrial School
in Alabama.
Founded in 1892, Calhoun
was a freedmen's school devoted to industrial education.
Classes were offered in agriculture, arithmetic, basketry,
Bible study, carpentry, cobbling, cooking, English, geography,
mattress making, and sewing.
In addition, Calhoun provided
teacher training. Many of its courses were taught by graduates
of Virginia's Hampton Normal and Agricultural Institute.
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Calhoun was also a social settlement
in which blacks and whites lived and worked side by side. The
teachers, both black and white, assisted members of the community,
especially recently freed African Americans, in gaining self-sufficiency.
They believed that education would improve ex-slaves' living conditions.
Through the school, they acted upon the words, "Education
will prove the equality of the races."
In 1913, Charlotte R. Thorn, principal
of the Calhoun School, wrote in her annual report:
"Calhoun's work and influence
cannot be restricted to its own community: it must and does
broaden out into county and state. The uplift of the negro in
the darkest section of the country is the uplift of the whole
country."
Learn more
about Calhoun School and Charlotte Thorn.
These photographs were taken by
Richard Riley. A member of the Camera Club at Hampton Institute,
Riley traveled to the Calhoun School to document its students,
teachers, and community.
These bright blue photographs
are known as cyanotypes. Cyanotypes were easily processed, making
them appealing to amateur photographers.
Learn more about cyanotypes.
Cyanotypes
in this Exhibit:
GLC 05140-02p9d |
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GLC 05140-02p6e |
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GLC 05140-02p7d |
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