STRATEGY# 5

Text and images from For Black Suffragists, the LensWas a Mighty Sword by Sarah ElizabethLewis

WASHINGTON

In a 1909 group portrait, the suffragist Nannie Helen Burroughsappears undaunted. Burroughsis central, framed by a black doorway at the NationalTraining School in Washington, D.C.

Libraryof Congress

Consider an image of the Black suffragist Nannie Helen Burroughs, aleader of the Women's Convention of the NationalBaptist Convention,

who exemplifiedthe crucial role of Black women's organizingwork in

the Black church aroundthe turn of the century, as historians

EvelynBrooks Higginbotham, Sharon Harleyand Rosalyn

Terborg-Penn have shownintheir landmark scholarship.

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STRATEGY # 5

Text and images from “ For Black Suffragists , the Lens Was a Mighty Sword by Sarah ElizabethLewis

MISS GARRITY .

PHOTOGRAPHER. CHICAGO

National Portrait Gallery , Smithsonian Institution

Other Black suffragists, including Ida B. Wells -Barnett , also worked tomarshal the power of images as an instrument of agency . Out of the

large number of images she deployed in publications and

correspondence , many are startling in their clarity born of her study of

the conventions of various photographs to dramatize , as the scholar

Leigh Raiford argues, “Black womanhood , the sanctity of the Black

family, and the credibility ofAmerican civilization as a whole .” This

includes a portrait from 1893 taken in Chicago , showing every detail ofher black lace bodice and strands of her hair. The image does not

merely convey the skill the photography studio, it capturesWells -Barnett's own intention to accent her singularity .

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STRATEGY # 5

Text and images from “ For Black Suffragists , the Lens Was a Mighty Sword by Sarah ElizabethLewis

This commanding portrait of Sarah Parker Remond, part of the early generation ofAfrican-American

suffragists, was taken circa 1865. Peabody Essex Museum

The commanding portrait of Sarah Parker Remond, part of the early

generation of Black suffragists , testifies to how photographs operate to

challenge being denied access to public spaces . Inthis portrait, circa, taken slightly from below, and empty save a column base , her

immaculately fashioned figure appears fully gathered . Remond, who is

thought to be the only Black woman to sign the first women's suffrage

petition in Britain in 1866 and whose prominence grew when she

contested her forcible ejection after she refused segregated seating to

attend an opera in Boston in 1853, sits with her hands on her lap, both

a subject inviting the gaze and entitled to space .

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STRATEGY # 5

Text and images from “ For Black Suffragists , the Lens Was a Mighty Sword by Sarah ElizabethLewis

Library of Congress

We see what DeborahWillis, a pioneeringphotohistorian, considersthe declarative andcorrective function ofportraits, too, inthe archived

images ofMaryChurchTerrell. Terrellwas the first Presidentof thelandmarkNationalAssociationofColoredWomen, and led a

successful fight to end segregation in restaurantsinWashington, D.C.

Ina three-quarter lengthportrait, Terrell appears seatedina woodenchair in a well-fittedwhite lace dress. Leaningto one side, she gazes at

the viewers of the photographas iftaking their measure. Herportrait

telegraphedwhat following decades wouldconfirm modelofself-possessionand dignifiedrepose, she was effectivelypoised to

occupythe role of leaderand an esteemed elder inthe rights-basedmovement.

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