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New Arrivals - Atlantic Coast

A second wave of immigrants hits the Atlantic shore. The Sikh with his dark skin and turban, the Irishman with light eyes, freckles, and red hair, the Negro internal migrant with deep black skin and African Negroid features - grandson of slaves. Young men and not so young men with their original names, vestments and hair cuts. They cut themselves out of the herd from Old World cultures or were freed from serfdom - fished out randomly or jumped themselves onto the decks of ships bound for America or traveled dirt roads north from the American South. The fins and flippers of old tradition and language receded - just enough to grow feet that could walk on new land and just enough words to vocalize their way on the street. They kept old continent, town and village wiles about them but ran into the New World law and got busted for petty larceny, disturbing the peace, carrying deadly weapons and the like. And, most of all, got accused of the intent of trying or not trying to fit in, in all the wrong places and times. At the second flash point, they sat docile, sometimes wild-eyed, but anesthetized by the camera apparatus and formal pose. In their faces, innocence, evil, and rage. The first head shots for the portfolio. The glam shots would have to wait a few generations.

It took some years for people to learn to look at the camera. It was only in the twentieth century that expressions in still photos began to challenge and seduce.