Skokiaan Queen

Object Details

Local Note: Original Constance Stuart Larrabee Number: 36-83; Contact Sheet Number: 332089-9

See more items in: Constance Stuart Larrabee Collection; Constance Stuart Larrabee Collection / Series 1: Photographs / Photographs / "Johannesburg Black Man" Series and Father Huddleson with Children, Pimville

Sponsor: The cataloging of the Constance Stuart Larrabee Collection was supported by a grant from The Smithsonian Women's Committee.

Extent: 1 Negatives (photographic) ((silver gelatin)., b&w, 6 x 6 cm.); 1 Photographic print ((contact print)., b&w, 6 x 6 cm.); 1 Photographic print ((dupe print)., b&w, 8 x 10 in.)

Archival Repository: Eliot Elisofon Photographic Archives, National Museum of African Art

Collection Citation: Constance Stuart Larrabee Collection, EEPA 1998-006, Eliot Elisofon Photographic Archives, National Museum of African Art, Smithsonian Institution.

Collection Rights: Permission to reproduce images from the Eliot Elisofon Photographic Archives must be obtained in advance. The collection is subject to all copyright laws.

Scope and Contents: "Skokiaan Queen," 1948. Terminology in title used by Constance Stuart Larrabee. Photographic image of a woman sitting and holding a stick that she uses to stir Skokiaan, a drink, in her buckets beside her. Constance Stuart refers to this series of images in her notes: "This woman stirring Skokiaan in her bucket, one of the hundred of "Skokiaan Queens" that flourish in the locations. It is illegal to brew this potent drink..." Photograph by Constance Stuart Larrabee, 1948.; In 1945, Constance Stuart returned from her assignment as the first female South African war correspondent in World War II. Her reputation as a photographer grew. She maintained a photographic studio in Pretoria and Johannesburg. This series of images which she entitled "Johannesburg Black Man" depict life in downtown Johannesburg and in parts of the city, where Black South Africans lived, such as Sophiatown, Pimville, and Newclare. A second series of images focuses on Father Huddleston's work in Sophiatown. In 1948-1949, in the early days of apartheid, Stuart documented the building of the South Western townships (Soweto) and the way Africans adjusted to this new environment.; There are no prints of this negative in the Constance Stuart Larrabee Collection. EEPA produced an 8x10 study print for reference purposes.

Collection Restrictions: Use of original records requires an appointment. Contact Archives staff for more details.