Lucy Diggs Slowe Papers, Moorland-Spingarn Research Center

Much of this photograph is out of focus. One can make out Slowe's signature scrawled out of a wooden placard. Her dress and necklace are rather indistinguishable in comparison to her past portraits. However, one thing is clear: time and stress have taken root. Slowe's typically sobering expression now gives way to a sense of sadness. Wrinkles and grey hair inevitably come as one ages, but at the time of this photograph, Slowe was only in her late 40s. The decades of fighting discrimination at every turn took its toll physically on Slowe's health. On February 15th, 1938, Slowe laid her elder sister Charlotte to rest, and within five months, Slowe herself was bed-ridden with pleurisy, an inflammation of the tissues that line the lungs and chest causing extreme chest pains and difficulty breathing. Despite her condition, Howard's administration continuously tried to bully her into coming into work or risk losing her job.