First Black Woman Elected To Illinois Bench: Mrs. Edith Sampson, 60, doffs her hat at Democratic headquarters in Chicago early today, after she was elected to a Chicago Municipal Judgeship. Mrs. Sampson, a widow and former member of the United States' delegation to the UN General Assembly, is the first black woman elected to the bench in Illinois, Chicago.

Edith Spurlock Sampson (1901-1979) was an American lawyer and judge. On August 24, 1950 she became the first black U.S. delegate appointed to the United Nations. She conceded that black people did not have equal rights in America but she said, "I would rather be a black in America than a citizen in any other land."

On recto: typewritten title and date.
On verso: typewritten title and date stamp.

Wire photographs were originally transmitted over phonelines, then later, by satellite. They were first used in the early 1920s. Associated Press became a leader with this. After pigment touch-ups, etc., the print is put into a drum (like a drum scanner). The image gets converted into audio tones that are transmitted. The tones are received and beamed onto photo-sensitive paper. Wire photographs are copies without originals---they are hybrid, transmitted objects. (Britt Salvesen, Curator and Department Head, Photography Department, Los Angeles County Museum of Art, March 30-31, 2022)

This object has the following keywords:

• Broken barriers
• Campaign headquarters
• Chicago
• Civil Rights Movements
• Edith Sampson
• Elections
• Female Portraits
• Injustice
• Racial Discrimination

• Image Dimensions: 9 1/2 x 7 in. (24.13 x 17.78 cm) Measured by Cornejo-Reynoso, Aitzin
• Sheet Dimensions: 9 15/16 x 8 1/16 in. (25.24 x 20.48 cm) Measured by Cornejo-Reynoso, Aitzin