Some Early Photos

The famous Life photo presents a dignified and moving image of Jackson, who weeps with the nation at the loss of a beloved president and personal friend. His emotion is genuine. It is also human in a way that largely transcends race, although I would argue both that it is possible to read Jackson as a stereotypically subservient and child-like figure in this image and that such a reading probably helps to explain its enormous popularity.

Jackson’s recollection of the photograph being taken was included in his New York Times obituary: “The photographer stumbled over my foot and looked up. He saw my face and saw those tears coming down my cheek, and he just reached around on his shoulder and got one of his cameras and - blip - and thought no more of it.” Unless Jackson had reinvented the circumstances with the passage of time, therefore, this is an unstaged photograph.

As a popular entertainer, Jackson was photographed many time throughout his career, both formally and candidly. The range of published photographs is very interesting, and I intend to scrutinize them closely. I want to begin with two photographs that anticipate the Life image—that is to say, two early photographs of Jackson with his iconic accordion.

First, a publicity photo that Jackson used in the 1920s:

The persona embodied here is unmistakable: Jackson is a jovial, simplistic minstrel. His wide grin shows off white teeth, while his tilted head counterbalances the humorously unwieldy accordion. This is a carefully staged portrait of course, but a later photograph suggests that it does indeed capture Jackson’s performing persona.

This photograph was published as part of a 1938 spread in Life magazine. It accompanied an account of life at the Warm Springs Foundation, established by Franklin Delano Roosevelt to provide care for paraplegics. In the photograph, Jackson is providing some after-dinner entertainment for FDR, his wife, and some friends:

The quality of my scan is poor, but Jackson’s character is so powerful that it still bursts out of the image. His role as minstrel is evident, from his exaggerated pose to his enormous grin to his rolling eyes. But is this really a candid photo? There’s no way to be sure. Since it features the president, the likely answer is no.

Not all images of Jackson played up the minstrel character, even early in his career. For example, here is a much more dignified portrait of Jackson from 1934:

He is missing his accordion, of course, which I believe encourages the minstrelesque portrayal. For dignified images of Jackson with his accordion we will have to wait until after the death of FDR.