A photo of a grade school class in the south in the late-1800s. If you notice no one is smiling.

Some of these children look downright angry. And for some you can see the misery already moulded and set permanently into the musculature of their faces like they’d been carrying their burdens for 60 years already. But my favorite is this little boy who you knew was the sassy class troublemaker, even had to be sat right in front of the teacher.

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