You are about to enter the Mirror of Race online exhibition of early  American photographs. We have organized this exhibition according to  a fundamental principle of the Mirror of Race project: that viewers  should be able to examine the images without immediately being told  what they are seeing. The point is to allow the viewers to reflect  upon their own ways of seeing and then to compare their reflections  with what we in fact know about the image and with commentary by  other viewers. So what you will see when you first enter the exhibition is an array  of images. You can click on any one of these images to view a larger  version of it, but at first you will be told nothing about the image.  You will then find links providing you with basic information, more  specific historical discussion as well as critical commentary on each  image.