From The Press of Atlantic City, October 16, 2004 ..... An A.C. crawl space yields a trove of black heritageBy JOHN BRAND Staff Writer, (609) 272-7275ATLANTIC CITY - Beneath the pine floorboards of a Michigan Avenue home, Ralph Hunter III crept about a sandy, wet crawl space and discovered century-old images of an unknown black American family: Seven charcoal portraits - called crayon drawings - dating to the late 19th or early 20th century and one photograph. For 35 years, the founder of the African American Heritage Museum of Southern New Jersey has scoured the United States for African-American relics. Until two months ago, Hunter never found any two pieces in the same place. "She is just incredible, isn't she?" Hunter says, looking at the portrait of a little girl, no older than 6 or 7. Her lips are pursed, her wide, dark eyes are sober and her hair is wound in two stubby pigtails. She is dressed in a Victorian blouse, an indication of a family's wealth at the turn of the century. "You never see portraits of children. Never. Look at her. She looks like a little Indian woman." Some historians think the portraits could be one of Atlantic City's great treasures; a tangible link to when the tireless efforts of black city workers helped build the resort into an East Coast tourist stop. "(The portraits) give African Americans the opportunity to look back 100 years when Atlantic City was in its infancy stage and see that African Americans had style, they had class. They were gentlemen. The ladies were well-dressed and they were very well-bred," Hunter said. But mystery shrouds the portraits, and Hunter is asking the public to help solve it. Who were these people? Were they native city residents, or were they among the black refugees who left the bitter South between 1877 and 1905 for the employment opportunities in Atlantic City? Why was the family's memory - and substantial investment - buried inches deep in a crawl space littered with beer bottles and shattered glass? For now, Hunter plans to restore the portraits and hang them in his Newtonville museum. In recognition of Black History Month in February, the Atlantic City Arts Center hopes to put the portraits on display so the public can give input. "It could be a great unifying event for the city and city residents to be able to work on solving this puzzle together," Atlantic City Arts Center Executive Director Joyce Hagen said. "It's just a great detective story." Ken Hill has lived on Michigan Avenue since 1947. A lonely widow named Mrs. Pettijohn was the earliest neighbor he can recall living at 704 Michigan Ave., where Hunter made his discovery. "I don't know if anyone alive would know Mrs. Pettijohn," Hill said. As far as he knows, his home was built in the late 1800s. In the 1960s, Mooney Washington and his family bought the house, a relative lived in it for a while and they've since rented it to the Watson family, said Alvin Washington, of Atlantic City. "Was I shocked? Yes," he said. "I don't know how anything could survive down there. It floods during a great storm." In August, Hunter, who lives nearby on Blaine Avenue, visited with Hill. He learned that the Watsons, who were leaving the house, may have valuable antiques. After searching the home, Hunter didn't find anything. But when he looked on the back porch he noticed an old, handmade wooden frame held together by square-cut iron nails. "Where did you get this?" Hunter asked the Watsons. They said their deceased father might have buried the portraits in the crawl space years earlier. The next day, Hunter spent 45 minutes navigating the crawl space and found 1917 plates from the Shelburne Hotel and the portraits. "Everything was soaking wet," Hunter said. Earl Parker III, owner of Parker Masterpieces in Williamstown, offers the rare service of restoring the portraits to reflect their original images. Parker said each portrait began with a photograph, a very faint version of which was transferred onto photograph paper. Then, it was sent to an artist, who used pastels and charcoal to give the pictures life and dimension. No artist appeared to have signed the portraits. "Those are probably very good likenesses of whoever those people were," Parker said. At some point in the process, the images were sent to Chicago or another major city, where they were transferred onto a linen canvas. That is why the portraits could withstand time, flood waters and neglect, Hunter said. Local historian Keturah Jackson said the portraits themselves tell a story about the family. Three portraits of women and one of a little girl show definitive American-Indian facial features, Jackson said. "A lot of African families have Indian heritage," she said. Their similarities, Hunter noted, suggest they are four generations of women from the same family, including the older woman with an apron pulled close to her bosom. One portrait of a man standing near what may be a piano seems to depict a minister. And the photograph celebrating a graduation shows teenagers dressed in their choir uniforms. It is signed by Weintrob Photo. Of particular interest is one portrait of a man with facial hair and long sideburns who bears a slight resemblance to Atlantic City Mayor Lorenzo Langford. "I've never seen a collection together like this," Hunter said. "Who knows what's up in the attic?" added Hill. "To me, they're priceless," Hunter said. For more information about the museum, visit: www.AAHMSNJ.org/index.htm
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