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This Family Portrait from 1897 Holds a Mystery That No One Has Ever Been Able to Unravel — Until Now
But here’s Clara Washington posed formally with her family in an expensive studio portrait dressed beautifully held lovingly by her mother included as an equal with her siblings.
Her family was protecting her.
Rebecca said her family was saving her life.
Dr.
Mitchell corrected and documenting it for history.
With the medical mystery solved, Rebecca needed to understand the world Clara lived in, the specific danger she faced beyond the general brutality of Jim Crow segregation.
Dr.
Mitchell explained the medical challenges first.
Albanism causes severe photosensitivity.
Clara’s skin would have burned within minutes of direct sun exposure.
In Georgia’s climate, without modern sunscreen or UV protective clothing, she would have needed to stay indoors most of the time or cover completely when outside.
He continued, “Her vision would have been significantly impaired.
nestagmus, which is involuntary eye movement, severe nearsightedness, extreme light sensitivity.
In bright conditions, she might have been functionally blind.
There were no treatments available in the 1890s, no corrective lenses that could help, no low vision aids.
Uh, but the social dangers were even more severe.
Rebecca found newspaper archives from 1890s Atlanta filled with pseudoscientific racism, eugenics propaganda, and articles treating any physical difference in black people as evidence of inferiority.
The Atlanta Constitution regularly published pieces promoting white supremacy and describing black Americans in dehumanizing terms.
In this environment, a black child who appeared white would have been dangerous on multiple levels.
White supremacists might have seen Clara as evidence of racial contamination or degeneracy, potentially targeting her family with violence.
Black communities, influenced by African spiritual beliefs carried through slavery, sometimes viewed albinism as supernatural or cursed, leading to ostracism or worse.
Rebecca found a chilling article from the Savannah Tribune, a black newspaper dated 1893.
Tragic death of unusual child.
Continued on the next page
