Figure 1.-- This is a Bullard portrat of the Thomas A. and Margaret Dillon family. Virginia-born coachman Thomas A. Dillon and his wife, Margaret, a domestic servant and native of Newton, Massachusetts, proudly pose in the parlor of their comfortable home at 4 Dewey Street with children Thomas, Margaret, and Mary. Coming from Virgunia, Thomas was probably born into slavery. They werre obviously Republicans. A poster on the wall commemorates President Theodore Roosevelt’s visit to the Worcester Agricultural Fair in 1902. Bullard took many portraits of family groupos. lmost all show African American children growing up in families with the fathers present and obviouslky supporting the family.

William Stewart Bullard was a Massachusetts photographer who worked as a photographs without a studio. Very little is know about him, but he left an extraordinary body of work--an extensive photographic record of African Americans at the turn-of-the 20th century and the early-20h century. Most of the images depict a strong proud African-American community in Beaver Brook, Massachusetts. William who was white was born in Worcester, Massachusetts (1897-1917). While we know little of his early life, we know that he worked for two decades as a photographer without studio. Hus images are well posed and constructed. Yet we have no information on him being an apprentice or working in a studio. He took his photograph outside his clients' home. He may have traveled with his camera on his bike, but all of Beaver Brook was within walking distance. We are left to wonder why so many of his portraits are of his African American neighbors. They along with some Native American were captured on film in their yards, gardens, and living rooms. There are no studio images. Bullard began his photography career at age 18 in Worcester (1894). He began listing himself as a photographer in the 1901 Worcester City Directory (1901). A the time he was living with his brothers and his mother on Mayfield Street (now Maple Tree Lane). The area is known as the Beaver Brook. Many of his photographs were taken there. Another unanswered question is why African-Americans comprised such a large part if his Beaver Brook images--40 percent. This even though they were a tiny part of the the population of Beaver Brook area where he lived. He and his family moved to North Brookfield (1908). His images are also unique and rare in that he recorded many of their names. Most of the studio photography that has survived has done so without the sitters' names. Particularly notable are the many images of proud African American fathers and the families they created. This may not sound all that notable, but it points to the not widely understood fact that even dunning the high point of post-slavery oppression, African-American children were growing up in strong family structures like other American children. Compare this with modern America where some 70 percent of African-American children are born to un-wed mothers and most grow up without a strong father figure in their lives. This is not an inheritance from slavery. The incidence of children born to un-wed mothers did not begin to rise to alarmingly high levels until the 1950s. Notice how the media and academia essentially ban the discussion of this very disturbing fact and the tragic consequences for the children involved in academic performance (increasingly important in obtaining decent jobs) and issues like crime and violence in our major cities. Anyone who dares raise this matter is immediately labeled a racist to shut him and the discussion down.

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Created: 1:32 AM 9/1/2022
Last updated: 1:32 AM 9/1/2022