African American Photographers from the Daguerreian to the Digital Eras

Gettysburg High Water Point by: William Earle Williams

The “African American Photographers from the Daguerreian to the Digital Eras” gallery at Haverford College was filled with interesting and thought provoking images. Among them, I was immediately drawn to one in particular. The image, “Gettysburg High Water Point” by William Earle Williams stood out because it was a color print surround by black and white ones. It also gave me a feeling of calmness and serenity, which was counter intuitive to what the image actual depicts.

            In the image, there is a beautiful blue sky, a wall with cannons, and a marker with “South Carolina” written on it in a field. Technically, I enjoy the framing of the image, with the way the sky, wall, and field are divided. The focus is on the marker, and the cannons appear almost as silhouettes. At a glance, it appears to be some form of memorial, perhaps for those from South Carolina. The image begins to stand out when you focus on the Confederate flag implanted next to the marker.

            The presence of the flag completely changes the mood of the photo. You lose the sense of calmness that was once apparent. This battlefield marker doesn’t memorialize someone who died fighting as an American, but it immortalizes our darkest point in history. The realization that our country was once bitterly divided begins to set in. Furthermore, the “high-water point” at Gettysburg is the most northern point that the Confederates ever reached in the war. Symbolically and maybe even literally, it represents the closest America came to losing the Civil War.

            To me, it represents the idea of how things may not always be what they appear. A calm and sunny picture of a battlefield may represent something a lot more important to the history of America.