Project Suggestions

Below are a number of photographs from the Holsinger collection. Each photograph or selection of photographs is followed by a description of the image(s) and a set of questions. These examples are designed to give you some ideas of how the Holsinger photos might lead you into web-based discussions, not only of the subjects of the photographs themselves, but also of their larger contexts in Charlottesville, Virginia, and the Jim Crow South. Students are encouraged to design their projects around the questions posed below, even if they do not necessarily incorporate the particular images presented here.

Example 1: Garrett Street, April 7, 1915

These four photos of Garrett Street were taken on April 7, 1915. Garrett Street currently runs south of the downtown mall in Charlottesville.

Who lived on Garrett Street in this period? What was the racial composition of the population? What did people do for a living? How much money did they make? Where might they have gone to church or to school? Did they vote? Who were prominent members of the community?
In what kind of neighborhood was Garrett Street situated and can any changes be detected over the course of the first thirty years of the twentieth century? What can we learn from the public record about land ownership in the black community?
Do any other Holsinger photos exist of individuals who lived on Garrett Street?
What does the condition of Garrett Street in this photograph tell us about housing and public services for African Americans in Charlottesville in this period? How do those services compare to those in other neighborhoods?

Example 2: George Carr's Clothing Shop, 269 W. Main

George Carr's clothing store was located on West Main Street in the area known as Vinegar Hill, for many years the primary black business district in Charlottesville.

What other kinds of businesses existed on Vinegar Hill? Who shopped in them? What can we learn about patterns of consumption and leisure in Charlottesville?
Who owned the stores on Vinegar Hill? Where did they live? Were they leaders of the community--in church, politics, clubs--in addition to being businesspeople?
Where were other commercial enterprises located? What kinds of businesses did African-Americans engage in?

Example 3: William Biggars and Family

William Biggars paid for this photograph on September 6, 1916

What can we learn from the public record about the family in this photograph?
How does the wardrobe of the family in this photo compare to the clothing worn by other subjects in the Holsinger collection? What did the subjects of photographs wish to convey through their dress?
How might we use other primary and secondary source materials to launch into a discussion of family and family life for African Americans in Charlottesville? How did the Biggars family compare to others in Charlottesville?

Example 4: African-American Life and the Charlottesville Reflector

The Charlottesville Reflector is the only black newspaper published in Charlottesville during the Jim Crow era of which copies still exist. Unlike The Daily Progress, the Reflector made its mission the publication of social, cultural, and political activities in Albemarle County about and of relevance to local African-Americans. Its pages tell of black education and politics as well as of social activities and important life events such as births, deaths, and marriages. A project focusing on the pages of the Reflector might comb its pages for articles, advertisements, and announcements reflecting the spectrum of available information and thus present one picture of black life in Charlottesville under Jim Crow.
What can we learn about black participation in and attitudes about politics? What was the state of black education in Charlottesville? Who advertised in the Reflector and what might that suggest about African-American consumption in this period? Which local, state, and national issues prompted the Reflector's editors to respond and why? What kinds of social and cultural activities did local African Americans participate in? How do the contours of African American life as depicted in the Reflector compare to the lives of white citizens as reflected in The Daily Progress?

Example 5: James Lightfoot and the "New Hotel Gleason"

This picture of James Lightfoot (left) was taken on April 7, 1914. He is wearing a porter's uniform from the Hotel Gleason (right), formerly located at 615 W. Main Street in Charlottesville.

Who was James Lightfoot? Where did he live? Did he have any family? Where else does he appear in the public record?
Did many African Americans work in local hotels? What can we learn about the local hospitality industry and its relationship to African-Americans?
Where else did blacks in Charlottesville work and what other kinds of work did they do?
Are there other Holsinger photographs of black workers?