Once I purchased the pictures I let them sit for a while. There was something in the eyes of the people in the photographs that begged for their stories to be told. Who were these people? How had they come to be photographed ? What were their lives like? What message was in their story for the next generation? Slowly the idea began to form, maybe I could collect other photographs and combine them with my Mom and Dad's pictures for some type of display. I purchased several books on African American photographs and photography. A friend suggested I learn more about W.E. B. Dubois' series of photographs for the "American Negro" exhibit in 1900. I asked friends, neighbors and everyone I cold think of to dig through their family scrapbooks and boxes and share photos with me. I needed a time frame for the pictures to fall in. One of the most significant times of growth and development in our country for African Americans as they struggled to define themselves was the period after the end of slavery and the beginning of the civil rights movement. The time frame decided upon for pictures was 1863 which marked the signing of the Emancipation Proclamation and 1955, the beginning of the Civil Rights movement. The story told in the display would be a picture walk exploring the lives of African Americans sharing their stories through their deep glares from the frames and photos, their proud poses and fashionable dress, and the many ways they are photographed living simple, quiet, distinguished lives.
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