You are about to enter the Mirror of Race online exhibition of early photographs. The theme of the exhibition is race in the United States, and our goal is to break open the historical meaning of “race” for viewers to examine as an idea that is, or should be, questionable.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 viewers to reflect upon their own ways of seeing and then to compare their reflections with what we in fact know about the image. 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.