This beautiful little girl was named Normeline, at least that's how I interpret what is on the back of the photo. However, WJY from The New Found Photography has said it's probably Norveline, so I have changed the name in the title. (You can see WJY's comment below in the update and as a standalone comment.) She was ten years old when this shot was taken. I did a search of Wallace High and got mostly schools in Scotland and England. This looks more like a US school photo so I'm guessing it has to be a school stateside, but where?
When you think of a school photo, I believe, you can't help but think back to when you had your own school photos taken. Your mother usually dressed you nice for the occasion and there was a lot of pressure to stay clean, not rumpled, for this oh so precious shot. Then you'd stand in line waiting your turn to be called forward for your moment of dread. Who was that person taking your picture? You'd never seen them before. You'd never see them again. You couldn't really see them at all because of the bright light. And then this stranger in the darkness is telling you to smile. What if you didn't want to smile? Then "poof" there was a quick flash and you were told to move on. You hoped your mom would be proud when she saw the shot.
School photos are about the same size as a photobooth shot, but the circumstances couldn't be less similar. The photobooth has the opportunity to take a "real" photo of you, or at least the you you want to project. A school photo is sort of like a mug shot.
UPDATE: from WJY:
Try Norveline, pronounced, and sometimes spelled, Norvelyn. It's the feminine version of Norvill, often shortened to Norv, like the football coach, Norv Turner._________________
As far as a sixth grader in high school, that's easy to explain. In the Jim Crow south, it was illegal for blacks and whites to attend the same school. It was fairly common for all the black kids to be crammed into a single, first through twelfth grade building. Some of these schools only had a few class rooms, so, a forth grader and a tenth grader might end up in the same English class.
Interesting fact. Public education in the pre-Civil War south was more of an exception than a rule. It wasn't until reconstruction, when southern state and local governments were dominated by freed slaves, that primary and secondary education became free and compulsory for all children. So, if you're a white kid in modern day Alabama, you have former slaves to thank for having an education.
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Yet another beautiful portrait and your observation about the difference in the two photo forms is exactly right. With so many kids and so little time, a good photo was more an accident than any effort of the photographer..
ReplyDeleteThere was a Lew Wallace High School in Gary,IN that was named for a Union army general and it has been around since 1926 until it closed this year. I found one reference for 1945 as the start of integration in Gary. It is unclear when it started at the high school. http://www.wikiwand.com/en/Lew_Wallace_High_School
That might be it. I have a feeling this little girl had quite a story to tell.
DeleteThere are a lot of Wallace High's. I found one in Idaho, Nebraska, South Dakota, Virginia, and South Carolina.
ReplyDeleteI'm thinking maybe South Carolina... Odd she is in 6th grade ... why would she have a High School photo?
I thought that was odd too. Like I said, there's a story here.
DeleteTry Norveline, pronounced, and sometimes spelled, Norvelyn. It's the feminine version of Norvill, often shortened to Norv, like the football coach, Norv Turner.
ReplyDeleteAs far as a sixth grader in high school, that's easy to explain. In the Jim Crow south, it was illegal for blacks and whites to attend the same school. It was fairly common for all the black kids to be crammed into a single, first through twelfth grade building. Some of these schools only had a few class rooms, so, a forth grader and a tenth grader might end up in the same English class.
Interesting fact. Public education in the pre-Civil War south was more of an exception than a rule. It wasn't until reconstruction, when southern state and local governments were dominated by freed slaves, that primary and secondary education became free and compulsory for all children. So, if you're a white kid in modern day Alabama, you have former slaves to thank for having an education.
Thank you! I've added this to the post.
DeleteSearching Norveline in Ancestry, I found a birth record for Norveline Dremen, daughter of John Dremen and Johnie Mae Brock. There is a John and Jennie M Drimanns (Drismann) living in Mississippi in 1930. They are the only African-American Dremen or variant that came up in the search. Noveline was born in 1932 in Clay County Texas.
ReplyDeleteBorn in '32 would be the wrong age for this Norveline since she was only 10 in '47. But it is interesting to know that there might be a trail out there to follow for this name.
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