In this photograph, Mr. Hale from Snow Hill is conducting church in the Pleasant Grove Baptist Church building in April, 1937. The first thing I notice about this photograph is how focused all of the students look while Mr. Hale teaches. He seems to have a look of satisfaction on his face, and I think it is because everyone is listening carefully to what he has to say. Mr. Hale, an adult woman that appears to be an assistant of some sort, and an audience of students are photographed here. The students are people of various ages, not just children. There are adults in the front row and children in the back, and they are of both genders.
The setting of this photo is the Baptist Church, and this is because there were no schoolhouses in Gee’s Bend. They make do with what they have. You can see this is a church building from the sign “One Lord, One Faith and One Baptism” placed at top. The windows and pews also resemble that of a church building, which you can see if you examine their surroundings. The lighting of this photograph is centered, and this draws your focus toward the audience, especially the front row. The lighting is also quite targeted on Mr. Hale, bringing him into the main focus of the photograph. The photographer, Arthur Rothstein, is on the same level as the subjects. He is also standing back quite a bit in order to capture some surroundings and focus of the image. The way the image is captured, I tend to focus exactly on what is happening in this photo instead of being distracted by what the church interior looks like.
I feel like the mood of this photograph is focus and satisfaction. Being described as an isolated and primitive community, the Gee’s Bend residents did not have a schoolhouse or regular teacher and classes to attend. But as you can see, they do not simply ignore the fact that education is a priority. They aren’t talking or distracted. They are focused on what Mr. Hale has to say, and they want to learn. He wants to teach, and the satisfaction comes from taking the resources that they have and being able to have school.
Many photographs in this collection and in the 1930s as a whole show the labor, work, families, and homes in this time period. But this photograph demonstrates education is important to the people, even in isolated communities with little to no resources. I think the author wants you to see that even though the Gee’s Bend residents’ speech habits and culture material was described as being from an older African origin, they strive for intelligence and hope for their future.-Erica
Erica,
ReplyDeleteSpeaking of focus and satisfaction as the theme of this photograph is a wonderful way to describe the mood here. I agree that all of the students here are engaged with Mr. Hale and following his every move. When you spoke about not recognizing the background immediately as the church I totally agree. I found it fascinating that I was drawn as well to the age difference of the students and less the fact that school and church were the same place in the community. Two things that struck me as I looked at the picture longer are the older students in the front are women. It made me question if the men were working or unable to attend because of the timing? I noticed as well that the “board” Mr. Hale is teaching from seems to have been handcrafted by someone…maybe even him! Your comment is true that this picture conveys the story of tenant farmers looking toward a brighter future.
-Caroline
Erica,
ReplyDeleteI think that considering the time period and the state the residents of Gees Bend were in, I think you are right to say that these students were eager to learn. They appreciated education, and the their teacher appears to be eager to teach them. I also believe that the word satisfaction is the perfect way to describe the mood of the photograph. I would not have noticed the details in the room if you had not pointed them out, and I think they are important when taking full consideration of the photograph.
-Allie
Erica has done a nice job here walking us through several aspects of the photograph. Your analysis underscores the importance of churches in poor communities at the times, for both spiritual and practical purposes. It also reiterates the idea of residents making do and helping themselves---community resilience in a time of struggle.
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