11A
LIFESTYLES / The Charlotte Post
Thursday, February 6, 1997
Roberts captured soul of S.C.
Beeper Haus, Inc.
Continued from page 10A
a poster advertising “perfect pic
tures.”
A self-taught photographer
reared in Florida, Roberts
moved his family to South
Carolina in the early ‘20s. He
and his wife, Wilhelmina Pearl
Williams Roberts, a native of
Columbia, left after her health
began to decline. She suffered in
the high Florida humidity,
Wynn said. They bought a five-
bedroom house on Wayne Street
for $3,000. In 1922, he opened
the studio.
From 4 am. to noon, Roberts
toiled as janitor at the local Post
Office, one of the first blacks to
be employed there.
At noon, he opened his studio -
photographing the Talented
Tenth and the “Ijurden bearers,”
Columbia's cadre of black maids,
butlers and skilled and unskilled
laborers.
“People came from every
where,” Wynn said. “There were
people who were chefs and
worked in white people’s
kitchens. There was a great
diversity.”
For Wynn and her siblings the
studio was magic.
“There was a picture of me
above the door,” Wynn said. “In
those days, color had
to be applied. He
painted it pink.”
Wynn had assis
tants who were pho
tographers, but he did
most of the pictures
himself, often working
late into the night to
accommodate clients.
His wife was also a
fine photographer.
“Mother took pic
tures, too,” Wynn said.
“Her works were fea
tured in a book by
photographer Jean
Montoussamy Ashe.
Mother was a strong
woman. She always
said ‘don’t step on my
church or my chil
dren.’ ”
Black Columbia relied on
Roberts to capture everything
on film. Photos were affordable.
The mo.st expensive was $2.50 -
the least $1.25. Three postcards
were a $1.
“Father tried to make sure
everyone was happy,” Wynn
said. “He wouldn’t accept any
payment until his customers
were satisfied. He would take
one picture the person wanted
and he wanted. People generally
took the one he wanted. Black
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Portrait of an unidentified deceased child, around 1920s.
people would sometimes go to
the white photographers but
they acknowledged the pictures
weren’t as good.”
He took pictures of joys, but
also sorrows. He traveled
around South Carolina pho
tographing funerals. It is those
pictures that move Wynn most.
“Back then a lot of times peo
ple didn’t have money to have
pictures made,” she said. “In
order to have a picture of a loved
one, they would have them pho
tographed in the casket. A lot of
people today think that is mor
bid. But that is the way it was
then.”
The finding of the photographs
and creation of the book and
exhibit are keep her father’s
spirit ahve, Wynn said.
“People saw photos of them
selves as children and of their
relatives,” she said. “The project
brought families together.
“He was really important. It
just took 60 years to see it.”
Youngest contestants make news
By Amy Starnes
THE ANDERSON
HERALD-BULLETIN
ANDERSON, Ind. - Laken
Goff is a beauty queen. To
prove it, she has a 5-foot tro
phy, a tiara as tall as her face
is long, and a sapphire and
diamond ring. She is 3 years
old.
With the death of child beau
ty pageant winner JonBenet
Ramsey, America knows well
the face of the Colorado 6-
year-old with the hair and
make-up of a 24-year-old.
The pictures seem endless -
JonBenet in a backless outfit;
JonBenet with hair exten
sions; JonBenet as Vegas
showgirl.
“Those pictures of JonBenet
bothered me immediately. I
thought I was the only person
in the U.S. sitting here think
ing, ‘Oh my gosh, what are
they doing to her?’ ” said
Marcia Summers, professor of
education psychology at Ball
State University.
Summers has since found
she is not alone. The pictures
have turned the public's
attention to the business of
child beauty pageants.
But some local pageant
moms point out the benefits of
the contests and the differ
ences between pageants in the
West and South and those in
the Midwest.
With a hot-pink bow in her
hair, playful brown eyes and
mischievous smile, Laken Goff
hangs onto her mini shopping
cart full of fake food.
She chews on the end of a
plastic banana as her parents
talk about her newfound life
on the pageant circuit.
This 3-year-old has a portfo
lio, an occasional modeling
coach in Ohio and a
runway/stage (built by her
father) to play on.
Laken's mother, Beth, was
involved with pageants when
she was younger and has been
a pageant judge for contests in
several states. She said when
Laken saw a pageant she was
, judging one day, the little girl
wanted to be on the stage.
Since then, Laken has been
in eight pageants and brought
home about a dozen trophies
and crowns. Pageants are set
up by age category and some
take babies as young as 1
week old.
As the child gets older, they
are asked to speak, give an
interview and eventually com
pete in a talent competition.
Winners of preliminaries can
advance to “nationals,” but
they aren’t really national,
they are more like regional.
Children can compete in a
number of different sections -
prettiest hair, best portfolio,
costume, etc.
Every child gets a trophy,
and on the national level the
winners often get savings
bonds for college, jewelry and
toys.
“She likes to do it,” Goff said
of Laken. “I think it gives her
good self-esteem. How many
3-year-olds can take a micro
phone and talk in front of 300
people? ... If she ever said she
didn't want to do it, I wouldn't
make her.”
Goff said she hopes pageants
will give her daughter self-
confidence and perhaps allow
her to make a few friends.
“I’m not out for her to win
thousands of dollars.
Hopefully, the money we put
into it is going to pay off.”
About the pictures of a
dolled-up JonBenet Ramsey,
Goff said, “You’re not going to
see anything like that around
here.”
Here, little girls wear puffy,
beaded dresses and their cos
tume may be a homemade
scarecrow outfit.
Not that the pageants arqn’t
expensive: From the dresses
to the entrance fees, parents
can spend several hundred
dollars on a national competi
tion.
That does not include portfo
lios, coaches, modeling lessons
and any other accessories.
Laken competes in a $300
white dress that was store-
bought, but later embellished
by hand with pearls.
The dress is a far cry from
some $1,000 dresses on sale at
national pageants, but still
much more than what some
pageant moms spend.
Likewise, lip gloss is Laken’s
only makeup. She doesn’t
compete with “big hair,” no
backless or skinipy outfits and
no taking off her jacket and
swinging it over her shoulder,
her mother said.
She says the children are not
being pushed to grow up too
fast, as some may claim.
“She’s got her hair in curls,
but how many girls get their
hair in curls and a big frilly
dress on to go to church on
Easter and Christmas? “
But there are exceptions and
extremes. Peggy Dellinger,
owner of Nana’s Consignment
Shop, and her daughter,
Diane Filbrun, work the
pageant circuit as judges.
They have seen the “stage
moms” who make their chil
dren walk the runway, and
they’ve seen children throw a
tantrum because they didn’t
want to be there.
“But if mine didn't want to
do it, I wouldn’t take them,”
said one mother
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