Races, Negroes: United States. Virginia. Hampton. Hampton Normal and Industrial School: Agencies Promoting Assimilation of the Negro. Training for Commercial and Industrial Employment. Hampton Normal and Agricultural Institute, Hampton, Va.: Chair Caning. 1899 - 1900

Curator: This photograph by Frances Benjamin Johnston, titled "Races, Negroes: United States. Virginia. Hampton. Hampton Normal and Industrial School," shows a woman caning a chair. It's an image laden with historical implications. Editor: The light really catches those bundles of cane behind her, giving a sense of the raw material transformed through labor. There's a starkness to the scene, yet also something beautiful in the repetitive action of weaving. Curator: The Hampton Institute, as the title suggests, was dedicated to the assimilation of African Americans through vocational training. Johnston's photographs were part of a larger effort to document and promote this agenda. Editor: But let's not overlook the skill involved in chair caning, the knowledge passed down through generations. It speaks to a complex relationship between forced assimilation and enduring craft traditions. Curator: Precisely. Johnston's work is now part of the Harvard Art Museums collection, a reminder of the complex and often contradictory ways in which institutions shape our understanding of history. Editor: It is fascinating how the mundane act of caning a chair can reveal so much about race, labor, and material culture.