The Full Interview

Creating “Framing Shadows”

In this full interview, Dr. Kimberly Wallace-Sanders discusses images dating from 1840 to 1920 of African American caregivers with their white charges. She informs us on how by looking closely at these images we can tease out new insights into what is, perhaps, the most complex inter-racial relationship in American life.

Creativity Conversation

Emory Libraries

Spelman College President Mary Schmidt Campbell joined Emory University’s Dr. Kimberly Wallace-Sanders for a fascinating conversation about portraits of African American nannies, and how African Americans were represented in photography and images around the turn of the 20th century. The talk, “Framing Shadows/Framing Lives,” was moderated by Rose Scott of WABE Radio.

Oxford College Library

Dr. Kimberly Wallace-Sanders Visits Oxford

The “Framing Shadows” exhibit is now on display in the Fran Elizer Exhibit space at Emory University’s Oxford College Library, is a compilation of selected historical photographs from the 1840s to the 1920s depicting unknown African-American women, young girls, and men who acted as caretakers for white families.

Dr. Wallace-Sanders, the curator of the exhibit “Framing Shadows: Portraits of Nannies from the Robert Langmuir African American Photograph Collection” drew an audience of faculty, staff and students into the shadows of each photograph on display for a keener, deeper understanding of the lives of those raising white children.
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Press Release

Exhibition Examines Lives of African American Nannies

A new exhibition of historical photographs at Emory University encourages visitors to consider the lives of African American women who spent years raising the children of white families. “Framing Shadows: Portraits of Nannies from the Robert Langmuir African American Photograph Collection” now open on Level 3 in Emory’s Woodruff Library. The exhibition is free and open to the public.

Dr. Wallace-Sanders, the curator of the exhibit “Framing Shadows: Portraits of Nannies from the Robert Langmuir African American Photograph Collection” drew an audience of faculty, staff and students into the shadows of each photograph on display for a keener, deeper understanding of the lives of those raising white children.
Click HERE to read more

Short Hand Story

What historical photos can teach us about the lives of African Americans in domestic service

A new exhibition of historical photographs at Emory University encourages visitors to consider the lives of African American women who spent years raising the children of white families.

Kimberly Wallace-Sanders, associate professor of American studies and African American studies at Emory, curated the exhibition of about 20 photos from the 1840s to the 1920s. The portraits show the caregivers – African American women, girls, and sometimes men – posed with the white children of their employers, and were categorized by Langmuir as “nannies” in his photo collection.
Click HERE to read more