Shoemaking, Tuskegee Institute

In 1902 Johnston visited the Tuskegee Institute at the invitation of its founder and president Booker T. Washington. The school’s dual program of formal learning and industrial training emphasized “the value of hard work in the building of character,” and Johnston created photographs that reflected that ideal, crafting formal tableaux that communicated the industrious work and quiet virtue of Tuskegee’s students. In Shoemaking, a uniform glow highlights the students’ individual labor and unifies their activities, affirming Tuskegee’s philosophy and reflecting the virtue of individuals participating in a united system—made even more important in the wake of the Civil War.