Monday, August 2, 2021

Using Social Media to Identify Photographs


Photo Courtesy: Juanita Harrell Stewart Collection
Cheryl Lyn Clark, Carmen Clark, Vear Roscoe
Rudolph Clay, Roemary Dennis, Cassie Johnson, Delores Gaskins, 
Freddie Mae Jackson, Geraldine Manager

I'm working with my photo collection and organizing it for the repository at the Amistad Research Center in New Orleans. Several years ago, Juanita Harrell Stewart, my cousin 2x, removed lived with me in her elderly age for care. We moved all her photo albums and boxes into my home. Over the years, I went through every box and found a photograph of her family and her church family. She was a lifelong member of Petty AME  Zion Church in New Orleans, Louisiana. 

I post a picture of her collection on my personal Facebook page, hoping that someone could help identify the people in the photograph. To my surprise, two women said that they could identify everyone in the picture. I was so happy that this picture would not be labeled as unidentified people. Brenda Johnson and Juanita Cunningham, who were both members of the church, knew everyone. My cousin Juanita was a secretary at one time for the church. 

If you have a photograph and know who the people are in the picture. Take a chance and post it on your social media sites; you never know who can help you identify the people.