Professor uses camera lens to document “blackness”

Photos by Noelle Theard, professor in African and African Diaspora Studies.

Nicole Montero/Staff Writer

Early in 2007, Yaba Blay, co-director of the Africana Studies Program at Drexel University, had an idea for a book that would challenge society’s perceptions of race. The first thing she did was interview and write biographies on people who identified with the Black race but did not necessarily appear to be Black.

One of the people Blay interviewed was Noelle Theard, a professor in the African and African Diaspora Studies Program. After the interview, the two started talking about the project.

“She told me that she was looking for a photographer,” said Theard, who fell in love with photography at an early age. “I thought that I was the perfect person for the project.”

“(1)ne Drop: Shifting the Lens on Race,” published on Nov. 28, 2013, is a combination of written biographies and photographs that investigate the lived experiences of people who identify as Black or have their “blackness” questioned.

[pullquote]“They’re people like me. People that maybe don’t look Black on the surface, but still identify as Black because of culture and heritage,” said Theard.

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The book, which took two and a half years to put together, portrays the biographies and experiences of more than 50 individuals. The individuals’ portraits are also shown—some taken by Theard and others taken by photographers under her direction.

Theard got her bachelor of arts degree in journalism at the University of Texas in Austin. She studied photojournalism and worked as a photographer for the Miami Herald for five years. After her time with the newspaper, she decided to go to graduate school at FIU and got her masters degree in African Diaspora Studies.

She continued to do projects — one on global hip hop.

“I was trying to find a way to bring photography and the academia together. I was always interested in figuring out how to bridge those two worlds,” she said.

In 2010, Theard started teaching at the University and went back to get yet another degree. She got a master of fine arts in photography at Parsons, the new school for design, which she finished last year.

“Photography, especially portraiture, is really powerful,” Theard said. “It gives the viewer a deeper understanding of the individuals and everything they are going through. This is specifically true for the book because we are trying to shift the way that race is perceived.”

The name of the book is a reference to the historical term known as the “one-drop rule.” This rule, which originated in the early 20th century, meant that if a person had even “one drop of Negro blood,” then they were considered Black. This meant that if the person’s great-great-great-great grandmother was Black, then the person was also considered Black—even if their skin color was white.

“Historically, the one-drop rule is basically the rule of hypodescent—which says that if, for example, your father was white and your mother was Black, you would be Black because you had one-drop of Black blood,” Theard said. “You would automatically be placed in the subordinate group.”

By creating this book, Theard and Blay wanted to change the idea of the “one-drop rule.” They wanted to turn it into something that was inclusive and positive.

[pullquote]“That one drop of blood can be a point of positive identification with Black culture, as opposed to something that needs to be hidden or something that people are ashamed of,” she said. “It is something that can be celebrated and honored.”[/pullquote]

“(1)ne Drop: Shifting the Lens on Race” can be purchased on Amazon. The book also has a blog at yabablay.com where people can submit their testimonials and continue to contribute to the story.

“The story doesn’t end with the publication of this book,” Theard said. “It only gets more complicated when we talk about race in this stage because Blackness is not a simple identity. It’s one that is very complex and inclusive.”

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