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This Family Portrait from 1897 Holds a Mystery That No One Has Ever Been Able to Unravel — Until Now
It had passed through dealers and collectors for 55 years, ending up in Ernest Whitfield’s collection, then Duke’s archives, and finally on Rebecca’s computer screen in February 2025.
The mystery that no one had been able to solve for 128 years finally had its answer.
And now Rebecca knew it was time to tell the world what that answer meant.
Rebecca spent four months preparing her findings for publication.
She wrote a comprehensive paper documenting Clara’s life, the medical reality of albinism in the black community, and the social context of families with disabled children in Jim Crow Atlanta.
The Journal of Medical Humanities accepted it for publication in June 2025.
But she also knew this story deserved broader attention.
She contacted the Atlanta Journal Constitution and the Washington Post, offering them the complete narrative.
The Atlanta paper published first in August 2025.
The mystery of the 1897 photograph: How researchers finally identified a black child with albinism and her family’s extraordinary love.
The article featured the 1897 photograph prominently alongside the 1924 faculty picture in excerpts from Clara’s 1916 essay.
It detailed the Washington family’s protective strategies, Clara’s 32-year teaching career, and the medical significance of the discovery.
The response was immediate and overwhelming.
Within a week, the newspaper received calls from people who’d been Clara’s students.
An 87year-old woman named Dorothy called from Decatur.
Miss Clara taught me piano from 1946 to 1948, Dorothy said, her voice shaking.
She was the gentlest teacher I ever had.
She always wore gloves and long sleeves, even in summer, and she kept the music room dark and cool.
But she never complained.
She just made beautiful music and taught us to do the same.
Another former student, now 74, remembered, “Miss Clara couldn’t see the sheet music clearly, so she taught us to play by ear and by touch.
She’d place her hands over ours on the keys and guide us through the melody.
” She said music wasn’t about reading notes.
It was about feeling them in your heart.
Big Beth Church held a memorial service in September 25, honoring Clara’s life and reinstating the Clara Washington Music Scholarship as a permanent endowment.
Over 400 people attended, including dozens of her former students.
Rebecca was invited to speak.
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