In this seventeen minute talk, professor, curator, photographer Deborah Willis discusses the pictorial record and a “new memory of photography”—how these images have become standards for reimagining the lives of black soldiers and workers. As Civil War photographs were widely circulated, they became a story telling moment for those who posed. Looking at numerous images, she contemplates the “standard of pose” and what may have happened in front of the camera as well as the ways that these photos document the jobs, lives, aspirations, and beliefs of the soldiers. This talk was part of the public seminar: Is There Anything More to See?

In this seventeen minute talk, historian Mary Niall Mitchell uses less known and difficult to understand photographs to discuss the use of photography as propaganda during the Civil War. Abolitionists knew that they needed to “shrink the distance between the enslaved and the free” in order to reach their target audience, the white middle class. They harnessed an early form of documentary photography as the ideal medium with which to reach this broad public. Anti-slavery activists used staged studio portraits of white-looking children dressed not as ragged but rather Victorian. Before-and-after photos showed the move from rags to respectability. Mitchell says that these images represent “the Civil War we don’t remember”—a set of ideas about children, race, and photography that have not been part of the narrative. This talk was part of the public seminar: Is There Anything More to See?

In this 15 minute talk, art historian, curator, and photographer Anthony Lee provocatively examines Civil War era photography by way of one case study. The discovery, in June 2010, of a supposedly rare carte-de-visite depicting two African-American boys began a contentious ordeal over the monetary and historic value of the artifact. Lee examines the process involved in the creation of photographs during Civil War and their possible meanings and uses in the historical moment. In his unfolding of the recent events after the discovery of the image, which is in fact either a carte-de-visite or part of a stereograph, Lee shows how the meaning of the image went from “abuse + mistreatment” to “patronizing and possibly ironical” to “resiiance and defiance” depending on the interpretations of each of the image’s owners. He concludes that “Civil War photographers often anticipated that their work would become the key elements of historical recall and fashioned pictures to match those needs…it’s up to us to recognize their strategies.” This talk was part of the public seminar: Is There Anything More to See?

The Graduate Center, CUNY
April 22, 2010

Historian Premilla Nadasen examines the importance of women in the Black Freedom Movements of the 1960s and 1970s. In Part 1 of this podcast, she outlines how the traditional narrative of the Civil Rights Movement, which tended toward “great men approach” is being expanded in three ways: 1) the timeframe is extended beyond 1955-1968; 2) the geography is expanded to encompass the North; and 3) a broader range of activists are considered including those who promoted armed self-defense and women who focused on gender issues. In Part 2, Premilla Nadasen focuses on Johnnie Tillmon and welfare rights activism to illustrate how inclusion of this movement expands the Civil Rights narrative to include gender, economics, and women’s self-determination.

Historian and educator Barbara Winslow (Brooklyn College) discusses the life and times of Shirley Chisholm, the legendary African-American activist, Congresswoman, and presidential candidate. Winslow places Chisholm’s legacy in the context of the feminist movement and the struggle for civil rights, putting special emphasis on the Brooklyn-born politician’s local roots.

This talk was given as part of A Catalyst for Change, an exhibit celebrating Chisholm’s trailblazing political career, sponsored by the Brooklyn College Women’s Studies Program and the Shirley Chisholm Center for Research on Women.

Early twentieth-century progressivism was a constellation of efforts undertaken by a wide range of people whose perspectives on reform were rooted in their race, class, region, and religion. In this talk to New York City teachers, Nancy Hewitt weaves together the “big P” progressivism of major reform campaigns, which are well represented in most history textbooks, with stories of the “little p” progressivism of workers, immigrants, women, and African Americans.

In the first part of this podcast, Hewitt describes some major progressive reform campaigns and highlights the role of Atlanta, Georgia, female activists in conservation and civic reform, known as municipal housekeeping. In the second part, she continues her discussion of municipal housekeeping by focusing on northern cities and also offers several examples of reform efforts involving both middle-class and working-class women.

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