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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