Pine Ridge

Mendelssohn, Lesannes Helwaq as “Wambli Luta,” 1908-15

Unidentified Photographer, [Unidentified Family on Moon], 1930s

Unidentified Photographer, [Unidentified Family, Unidentified Men, Unidentified Women], 1910s

The Pine Ridge Reservation was originally part of the Great Sioux Reservation, established after the Fort Laramie Treaty. The Pine Ridge Reservation Archive showcases a variety of photographic mediums from 1880 to 1970. The photographs themselves shed light on a variety of topics including historical events, entertainment, daily life, and the unabashed racism and tragedies endured by the Sioux people.

photobooth

Andy Warhol, Photo booth Strip (Holly Solomon 110), ca. 1964

Unidentified photographer, [Andre Breton], ca. 1929

Anatol Josepho, [Self-portrait of Anatol Josepho with Terrier], 1928-30

The original Photomaton was unveiled by Anatol Josepho in 1925 in a studio on Broadway, between 51st and 52nd streets. Josepho’s machine offered an “automatic” portrait, a unique positive black-and-white paper print, which appeared minutes after exposure. Studio, camera, and darkroom existed as a single entity, with no other human operator involved in the process. A year later Josepho sold his invention to a consortium of financiers and industrialists who in turn began a global franchise thath would make the Photomaton a ubiquitous amusement in arcades, fairs, and carnivals. Inexpensive, swift, and mechanical, photobooth images were antic and common compared to the gravity of a formal studio. The tiny, generic proscenium of the booth bore no direction other than the limitations of its size.

The Crimson Skull

Unidentified Photographer, Production still for the film The Crimson Skull, 1921
The Daniel Cowin Collection of African American Vernacular Photography

“Race films”—movies with all-black casts produced for black audiences—were an integral part of the African American viewing experience from World War I through the mid-1940s. Plagued by low budgets and often sketchy production values, these films nevertheless offered black actors the opportunity to perform in nonstereotypical roles. The Crimson Skull, the first all-black western, was filmed in 1921 in the all-black town of Boley, Oklahoma, by the all-white Norman Film Manufacturing Company of Jacksonville, Florida. The choice of Boley was perhaps related to its fame as host of a rodeo for African American cowboys. The cast of The Crimson Skull featured Anita Bush, Lawrence Chenault, Steve Reynolds, and Bill Pickett, a world champion rodeo rider. Anita Bush (1883–1974) came to film after years of stage experience; in 1915, she formed the first black company dedicated to performing serious dramatic works. The Anita Bush Players (later called the Lafayette Players) premiered at Harlem’s Lincoln Theatre in 1915 and survived until 1932, training hundreds of black actors and spawning road companies that traveled on circuits to major cities across the United States.

Red Bird, Oklahoma

Unidentified Photographer, [Townspeople of Red Bird, Oklahoma, in front of railroad depot], ca. 1910
The Daniel Cowin Collection of African American Vernacular Photography

During the late 19th and early 20th centuries, African Americans established at least 88, and perhaps as many as 200, all-black towns across the United States, the vast majority in the West following the end of Reconstruction. These incorporated communities—usually a commercial hub serving a hinterland of black farmers—attracted settlers with the promise of economic and political autonomy and escape from racial oppression. The Twin Territories—Oklahoma and Indian Territory—became the center of all-black town settlement; 32 all-black towns emerged in the region, including Red Bird, which was founded in 1902 a few miles south of Coweta, Oklahoma, by Arkansas preacher-turned-entrepreneur Elbert L. Barber (b. 1874). Barber formed the Red Bird Investment Company, which sent agents through Arkansas, Louisiana, Mississippi, and Texas selling town lots. Black towns lost much of their appeal in 1907, when the Twin Territories became the state of Oklahoma and the ruling Democratic Party enacted Jim Crow laws and disenfranchised black voters. Political setbacks aside, the Great Depression spelled the end of most black towns. Red Bird, however, survived. Today, the small town of mostly black residents hosts educational tours organized by the Tulsa Rudisell Library through its program, “Historic All-Black Towns of Oklahoma.”