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| Children of segregation at a birthday party, Orangeburg, South Carolina, 1947: At Rendall Harper's (holding cake) birthday party on Middleton Street in Orangeburg. I am in the second row, second from left; on my right is Leroy Sulton, my best friend and next-door neighbor. The arbitrary nature of racial discrimination is exemplified in this photograph of African-American children, some of whom are obviously the results of many generations of racial mixing, but who have been designated as "black" by American society. As the result of their African ancestry, these children were prohibited from full participation in the social, educational, cultural, and political life of the state even though some appear to be more "white" than "black."--Cecil J. Williams |
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| The Children of segregation, four years later, 1951: "Many of the same children photographed in 1947. Here they are young adults getting ready to have an enjoyable afternoon at Christ the King School."--Cecil J. Williams |
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| With Leroy "Bunt" Sulton, 1957: This self-portrait with my friend Bunt captures a lighter moment in our lives. We were part of the black middle class that evolved in the South despite Jim Crow laws. At the time I had published photographs internationally, while Bunt, a descendant of one of the oldest free black families in the South, came from a tradition of self-employed African-American entrepreneurs. The assurance of African-American entrepreneurial endeavors, albeit in a highly restricted arena of expansion possibilities, was one of the singular benefits of the segregation system. Blacks often provided separate services for their community when services provided for the white community were not available to them. Bonde, blue-eyed Bunt epitomized the arbitrary nature of segregation; because of his classification as "colored" he too was disfranchised, though he looked "white."--Cecil J. Williams |
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| A black youth standing before the South Carolina Capitol, circa 1950: A poignant reminder of the failed mission of the state legislature in representing the interests of all its citizens. Contrasting the grandeur of the legislative house with the small youth is a visual statement concerning the rights and needs of the individual contrasted with the sovereignty of the state."--Cecil J. Williams |
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| Jim Crow statuettes offered for sale at an outdoor market. |
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| The new Scotts Branch High School, South Carolina, 1952: "Separate but equal" inaugurated one of many schools built for blacks beginning in 1952 under a $75 million bond issue for school construction and school buses. School improvements were rushed to completion as a deterrence to the Briggs suit. James F. Byrnes, then governor, stated: 'If the separate but equal idea didn't suit the court, then reluctantly we will abandon the public school system.'"--Cecil J. Williams |
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