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Mae Mallory and her daughter Patricia
Date: undated, c. 1956-1960
Caption: This photo of Mae Mallory and her daughter Patricia was taken by the Amsterdam News during the “Harlem Nine” fight against segregated schooling.
During the “Harlem Nine”’s struggle to integrate schools in New York City, multiple newspapers, including The New York Times and Amsterdam News, published photographs of Mae Mallory with her daughter Patricia. These images accompanied articles about the legal struggles of Mallory and the other Harlem mothers who had been charged with violating the state’s compulsory education law when they kept their children out of school. In some ways, she and her daughter became the face of the “Harlem Nine.”
While Mae Mallory may have consented to these photos, we might wonder how Patricia felt about her inclusion in the images and how she thought about and felt about the boycott.
Categories: Staten Island, parent activism
Tags: racist segregation, policing and the criminal legal system, protest, zoning and student assignment, court cases, photography, imagery, and visual representation, women's activism, childhood
This item is part of "Mae Mallory and the “Harlem Nine”" in "Black and Latina Women’s Educational Activism"
Item Details
Date: undated, c. 1956-1960
Creator: Burley Versatile Photography
Copyright: Under copyright. Used with permission.
How to cite: “Mae Mallory and her daughter Patricia,” Burley Versatile Photography, in New York City Civil Rights History Project, Accessed: [Month Day, Year], https://nyccivilrightshistory.org/gallery/mae-mallory-and-daughter.
Questions to Consider
- What do you see in this image? What do you notice? What do you think is happening here?
- What does Mae Mallory’s expression convey? What makes you say that?
- How might Patricia Mallory have felt to be included in these photos? What about her posture and expression stand out to you?
- Mallory had been active in many political struggles in New York and nationally. The FBI targeted Mae Mallory for surveillance within its COINTELPRO program. Mallory’s extensive FBI file includes other images of her. How do the images of Mallory collected by the FBI compare to this image?
References
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