She needed a specialist, someone who could look at a 128-year-old photograph and diagnose a mystery that had remained unsolved for over a century.

Rebecca contacted Dr.

James Mitchell, a geneticist at Emory University, whose research focused on hereditary conditions and their historical documentation.

She sent him the digitally enhanced photograph without explanation, asking simply, “What do you see when you look at this child?” His response came within two hours.

Where did you find this? I need to know everything about this image.

They met the following afternoon in his office.

“Dr.

” Mitchell had already printed the photograph in high resolution and pinned it beside modern clinical images on his bulletin board.

“This isn’t a white child,” he said immediately, pointing to Clara’s figure in the photograph.

“This is a black child with complete oculaneous albinism,” Rebecca felt her breath catch.

“Albinism? Look at the characteristics,” Dr.

Mitchell explained, his finger tracing Clara’s features.

the dramatically reduced pigmentation, not just lighter skin, but near total absence of melanin, the very light hair, probably white, blonde, or platinum, and if we could see her eyes in color, they’d almost certainly be blue or gray with visible red reflex from light hitting the retina.

He pulled up clinical photographs on his computer.

Oculutaneous albinism is a genetic condition affecting melanin production.

It occurs in all populations, including people of African descent.

In black individuals, the contrast is particularly dramatic, exactly what we’re seeing in this 1897 photograph.

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