Understanding Race and History Through Photography
Understanding Race and History Through Photography
- It began in 1926 with a simple question her grandfather Shadrach Emmanuel Lee asked in a Brooklyn high school history class. “His question was, ‘Where are the African-Americans in this history book?’ ” she said. “And the answer he received was, ‘Well, African-Americans have done nothing to merit inclusion.’ He didn’t take that as a legitimate answer. So he was expelled for his impertinence. And his pride was so wounded that he just never went back.”
- It began in 1926 with a simple question her grandfather Shadrach Emmanuel Lee asked in a Brooklyn high school history class. “His question was, ‘Where are the African-Americans in this history book?’ ” she said. “And the answer he received was, ‘Well, African-Americans have done nothing to merit inclusion.’ He didn’t take that as a legitimate answer. So he was expelled for his impertinence. And his pride was so wounded that he just never went back.”
Mr. Lee never finished
high school but did become a visual artist and pursued a career as a
jazz bassist playing with Billy Eckstine, Lionel Hampton, Count Basie
and others. To support his family, he also worked as a janitor,
including for a time at Temple University in Philadelphia.