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.