A N INTERRACIAL PENTECOSTAL PHOTOGRAPH AND ITS
HISTORICAL CONTEXT
How does the historian decode, discern, and interpret a photograph, espe-
cially from another era? What is in the foreground of the photograph?
Were they selected to be in the photograph because of their denomi-
national affi liation, ecclesial offi ce, or relationships? Without striving to
locate the name of the photographer or the single or multiple intended
audiences, what is a plausible interpretation or are some plausible interpre-
tations based on the context clues? What is known to the historian?
Gleaning the biographical items, the historian can calculate the year
as approximately 1917, identify thirteen subjects, note the gender of all
in the picture as male, specify the ecclesial offi ce as the bishopric, sig-
nal Pentecostalism as the theological tradition, target the denominational
affi liation as the Church of God in Christ, and register the race as var-
ied: African American, White American, and an Asian Indian American.
Among the thirteen, two were alumni of the Azusa Street Revival, ten
participated in the 1907 founding of the Church of God in Christ, at
least two attended the Hot Springs 1914 Convention, and one was a
former minister of the newly formed Assemblies of God. These persons
are natives of places such as Tennessee, Mississippi, South Carolina, and
Texas. Additionally, Memphis, Tennessee serves as the location where the
photograph is taken, a city in which the headquarters of the Church of
God in Christ is housed and which is the heartland of the tri-state region
of the legally, racially segregated South. 7
Race emerges as a frame of the biographies, the location of the city,
the date of the scene, and the social climate of the times. The onrush of
race segregation laws from the town and city to the state level after the
1896 U S Supreme Court Plessy v. Ferguson decision resulted in the legal-
ity of segregated settings and organizations in the South, including reli-
gious organizations, by 1916. Outside the South, interracial organizations
were rare, especially black-headed interracial or multiracial organizations,
because of racial norms. Consequently, what is the 1917 photograph of
interracial Pentecostalism registering in a legally racial segregated region
of the United States and across a legally racialized nation?
VINTAGE PHOTO, VISUAL EXEGESIS, AND 1917 INTERRACIAL... 215