http://jessicadoeshistory.com/cnd/exhibits/show/luke-beverley/glitched-creek-county
http://jessicadoeshistory.com/cnd/items/show/151
For my assignment, I decided that I wanted a photograph that depicted the plight of black communities in the Depression. I discovered that there existed a prominent photographer named Russell Lee that strove to document just that, to introduce white America to the lives of different communities and inspire sympathy through his photographs. I chose to glitch one of Lee’s excellent prints, one that I found had the most pathos and industrious, determined spirit we discussed in class. To glitch it, I simply added the entire lyrics to Eminem’s “Without Me” within the code.
Black history can be dreadfully depressing. It seems impossible to imagine that amidst such woe and poverty, black people were ever tapped into the same individualism and grit of their white counterparts. But when one looks at the context of this picture, one sees an echo of that America; in 1940, “despite the fact the white school received free books, none arrived for the Negros. The teacher was so afraid of losing her job that she would not make any inquiries about the books and the children were sharing the few books some could buy.” (Lee) Lee’s photo encapsulates that sentiment keenly, the determined need to better oneself and be educated, the marriage of self-improvement and solidarity. In spite of the adverse conditions– the shortage of textbooks, the crampedness of the desk– these two girls learn and are willing to learn, and are willing to spread the wealth. When one adds the lyrics of “Without Me”, the claustrophobic desk and restricted bodies are erased, the meagre textbook locking their gazes wiped from view, to prioritise the girls’ heads. This is what the American spirit stands for: in spite of every hardship, value your singular wits. 1
The glitched image established my new take on Lee’s picture, acting as something of a mantra for my analysis. But did black communities feel the same Depression-proof American spirit that white communities felt? The results are muddled. While many more black students became literate in the 1930s than in the 1890s, that literacy was undeniably shallow, usually consisting of eighth-grade level comprehension. The simple fact is that those educations were at second-rate Jim Crow schools. Black educator Benjamin Mays terms it best, maintaining that the “inevitable consequences of inequality has warped the minds and spirits of thousands of Negro youths. They either grow to manhood accepting the system… with bitterness in their minds. It is the rare Negro child who comes through perfectly normal and poised under the segregated system.” (Mays) Though the education was poor, it is supremely telling that black people still wanted to find the time; “The children need all the education they can get, but we need them to help on the farm. If you don’t make your crop, the white man will put somebody else here to do the work.” (Irons) They and their children exerted themselves for education– the two girls worked with their disadvantages without visible resentment– and though the education was poor, the effort and the purpose here show, in part, that one’s singular wits were always in centre focus. 2
- Lee, Russell. “Creek County, Oklahoma.” Still image, February 1940. https://www.loc.gov/pictures/item/2017785181/.
- Irons, Peter. “Jim Crow’s Schools.” American Federation of Teachers, August 8, 2014. https://www.aft.org/periodical/american-educator/summer-2004/jim-crows-schools.
