Shot of the Day - 32 – Little Rock Central High School

Little Rock Central High School (16 June 2008)

Before I visited and photographed the Arkansas State Capitol, I went to see a landmark in our nation’s civil rights history. It seems a suitable note for Black History Month.

Built in 1927, Little Rock Central High School was, at the time, the largest and most expensive high school constructed in the nation. By 1957, I was an elementary school kid in New York and remember when the big national news story was about the simple act of a few students trying to go to school.

Three years after the Supreme Court found public school segregation unconstitutional, Little Rock could no longer delay integration. A federal court order had to be implemented to allow nine brave Black kids into Central High. The neighborhood erupted in protest and Arkansas Governor Orval Faubus activated the National Guard to keep the kids out. President Eisenhower trumped Faubus by sending in troops from the 101st Airborne Division.

From Google Images

I have seen this classic photograph dozens of times. It is one of the 

images that always appears when the story of Central High is told. 

Despite Google Images caution about respecting copyrights and 

authorship, it took much digging to find one attribution. 

The Granger Historical Picture Archive

credits Will Counts for taking the picture.

Even with the increase in reported incidents of racial animus of late, it’s difficult to imagine how bitterly, openly hateful some white folks were…not all that long ago. I had to add this shot from those tense days in Little Rock. Can you just feel the warm welcome they got from their fellow students and neighbors? Not so much.

“I tried to see a friendly face somewhere in the mob—someone who maybe would help. I looked into the face of an old woman and it seemed a kind face, but when I looked at her again, she spat on me.”
Elizabeth Eckford (Age 15; pictured above)

They were cursed and threatened in the street and ignored by everyone once they entered the building.

In 1957, 92 years had passed since the Civil War ended slavery (I know it was the 13th Amendment). The point is it took well over a century to make things right…legally at least. Today, we can point to examples of backsliding. My wife observed that in our nation’s long history, we have generally trended in a positive direction. Some problems certainly took too long to redress but the overall path of the country seemed progressive. She never thought there would come a time when improvements were curtailed and the nation would go backwards.

Since 1998, the school and some nearby properties have been designated a National Historic Site. It’s worth a visit if you are in Arkansas’s capital.

State Capitols – Richmond, Virginia

Virginia Capitol in Richmond (30 June 2008)

Constructed: 1785-1789

Architect: Thomas Jefferson

State Admitted to Union: June 25, 1788 (10th)

State Population (2010): 8,001,024 (12th)

Virginia has been in the news lately, what with the governor and other high-ranking officials having admitted to being insensitive fools. It’s time to visit their beautiful capitol…before the stink in Richmond damages it further. We return to the STATE CAPITOL ODYSSEY.

It is the Commonwealth of Virginia, one of four U.S. states so designated, the others being Kentucky, Massachusetts and Pennsylvania. The term is a traditional English reference to a governing body dedicated to the common good.

Senate Chamber, Virginia Capitol, Richmond (30 June 2008)

The colony began in Jamestown as the first permanent English settlement in the New World. As the colony grew and government was established, Jamestown became the capitol. The first colonial legislature, the House of Burgesses, began meeting there in 1619. When England’s rebellious period included a twelve-year stretch before 1640 without a functioning Parliament, Virginia’s House of Delegates became the oldest continuous English-speaking legislative body in the world. How’s that for trivial excess?

In 1699, the capitol was moved to Williamsburg and remained there until Governor Thomas Jefferson suggested a more central location for the new state’s government. Richmond has been the capital since 1780.

House of Delegates Chamber, Virginia Capitol, Richmond (30 June 2008)

Before he became the third president, Thomas Jefferson was our Minister to France. The man did everything. In his free time, he designed the capitol building for the new state. It was modeled after a favorite Roman temple he had seen, the Maison Carrée in Nȋmes. As our nation’s state houses go, only the Maryland capitol in Annapolis is older.

I was on the home stretch of the road trip that ended the DEAD PRESIDENTS QUEST having driven to Kansas and then Texas to pay my respects to Dwight Eisenhower and Lyndon Johnson, respectively. All the stops along the way became the start of my state house chase…a great loop through the American Midwest and South that captured eleven special, historic, public buildings. Richmond was the last stop on the journey.

The photo at the top shows the east and west wings that were opened in 1906 to hold the House of Delegates and Senate. From 2004 to 2007, the historic Capitol was restored, renovated and expanded…so I arrived right after that to a rather pristine appearance.

Rotunda and Washington Statue,

Virginia Capitol (30 June 2008)

Jefferson did not want to add a dome to his classic Roman exterior design but one is visible from the inside. Under the dome is a life-size statue considered the finest representation of George Washington ever made. French sculptor Jean-Antoine Houdon visited the general in 1785. He took many measurements, made a life mask and went home to add that face to a block of fine Carrara marble. It has been in this spot since 1796. Virginia’s favorite Son is surrounded by busts of the other seven presidents born in the state – Jefferson, Madison, Monroe, William Henry Harrison, Tyler, Taylor and Wilson.

Old House of Delegates Hall,

Virginia Capitol, Richmond (30 June 2008)

During the Civil War, the House of Delegates chamber served a second purpose as the legislature of the Confederate States of America. It is now a museum with busts of the many famous Sons of Virginia. A full-size statue of Robert E. Lee stands where he stood on April 23, 1861 when he accepted command of the Army of Virginia.

The desks and chairs (also designed by Jefferson) are copies since most of the originals were destroyed in 1870 when an overcrowded courtroom on the floor above crashed through to the chamber, killing 62 people and injuring 251 more.

Virginia Executive Mansion (30 June 2008)

Occupied by First Families since 1813, it is the oldest 

governor’s residence still used for this purpose

Washington Monument, Virginia Capitol,

Richmond (30 June 2008)

Begun in 1850 as a tribute to George Washington and other Virginians who contributed to the revolution and our independence, the monument was completed in 1858. The design included a tomb for our first president, but his family honored Washington’s desire to be buried at the family home in Mt. Vernon.

Shot of the Day – 31 – Dinosaur Eyes

Betty-saurus Eyes, 
American Museum of Natural History (18 July 2011)

I should do a post on the American Museum of Natural History. It is a wonderful place to visit and was a favorite hangout of mine when I lived in the Big Apple. I left New York 48 years ago but still try to drop in when I visit.

In 2011, the retired guy went to New York with his beautiful, younger, still-working wife. I went to the Museum to meet my undergraduate oceanography professor who is a Resident Research Associate there. Of course, I brought the camera.

In the lobby/atrium of this great place founded by Teddy Roosevelt’s father is a prehistoric tableau. A Barosaurus, the tallest of the dinosaurs, is depicted as rearing up as a carnivorous Allosaurus attacks it. This cast reconstruction (real fossil bones are too heavy to be positioned this way) soars almost to the ceiling, 100 feet above the rotunda floor.

I like the shot because it juxtaposes two disparate elements, the dinosaur bones and the fancy ceiling. Also, when composing a scene, it’s nice to be able to use the subject to block an unwanted feature…like a statue that hides a street sign behind it. In this case, the head covers a light fixture. Better yet, the bright bulb now adds a spooky quality to the creature.

Do Not Feed the Dinosaurs, AMNH Gift Shop (18 July 2011)

Finally, a Tip of the Day at no extra charge. The ceiling pictured here has another bare bulb light in the octagonal molding to the right of the head. By using the cloning tool, I copied the central portion of one of the moldings that had no light and pasted it over the distracting bright spot. Voila! That’s where digital post-production is especially useful.