Okay, so it’s really the day after ‘the day after.’ We arrived back in Cleveland on Thursday morning around 3 a.m., I didn’t get to bed until about 4 a.m. So needless to say, I spent yesterday catching up on sleep and recharging my emotional batteries. I wasn’t expecting this street photography trip to be so exhausting. The energy exerted in Chicago put me on the plane of a natural high. So when we returned I was left with sort of a melancholy cloud over my head. My mood yesterday was reflective and pensive and still is today. I think this is because there were a lot of powerful moments on this trip, but two of these moments are weighing heavily on my mind.
Emmett Till Rd, South side, Chicago
The first was discovering Roberts Temple, the church where Emmett Till was funeralized 54 years ago, and getting to interview a 78 year-old deacon who had actually attended the funeral in 1955. I never dreamed I’d receive a first-hand account of a piece of civil rights history that I had previously only read about in a text book. Our theme for this trip was image, and that image of Emmett in the open casket published by Jet magazine has always been one of the most powerful images I’ve ever seen. Being in the land where the African-American image is so positive and influential (Obama and Oprah), I left the church with the sense that the traumatic image which helped to spark the Civil Rights Movement continues to have a profound impact on this South side community.

The house at 2300 Jackson Street
The second most powerful moment was on our drive back when we stopped off in Gary, Indiana to visit 2300 Jackson Street. Now, if you’re not familiar, 2300 Jackson Street is the childhood home of Michael Jackson. It happens to be coincidence that the Jacksons lived on “Jackson” street. The street was named prior to them taking up residence here. However, the cross street has since been renamed Jackson Family Blvd. to commemorate the legacy. Visiting this location was extremely powerful for a number of reasons. To be able to see just how humble the Jackson family beginning was gives me incredible hope. This was, and still is, a very economically depressed neighborhood. The Jackson home, of course, has been “caution” taped-off and the current resident has been temporarily relocated for obvious reasons. There wasn’t a chaotic crowd of fans when we arrived late in the evening, but there was a steady flow of people driving up and stopping to take pictures. We were given a tour of a neighbor’s house which has an identical floor plan to the Jackson’s house, and I was astonished at how small this space is. I couldn’t imagine a family of 11 residing in a three-room house that couldn’t have been more than 600 square feet. As the sun began it’s final decent under the horizon I stood at the corner of Jackson Street and Jackson Family Boulevard and snapped pictures. I imagined what these images would tell me if I could set the camera on a tripod and click backwards through the past 51 years.
a group of young fans pose for a picture in front of the Jackson Family home at 2300 Jackson Street
So here I am. The day after ‘the day after’ and the work for American Boy Tour: Chicago isn‘t finished yet. Now begins the tedious process of reviewing our frames and footage, editing for our documentary and our upcoming launch of American Boy Tour web-zine (check out our landing page here). Also you might be interested to know that Keelyn and I will be taping our first video-blog this Sunday with more reflections, thoughts, and images from Chicago (post date TBD - early next week I hope). As you may have guessed, we’ve chosen to give American Boy Tour it’s own home as a web-zine come January 2010 and Chicago will be our featured city for the inaugural issue. So be sure to follow us here on the MasculineCurves blog, Keelyn’s blog, and our twitter and Facebook pages, as we’ll be sharing snippets of our adventure as we prepare for the January launch.
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