They are also presented as intellectually childlike, physically unattractive, and The Tom and Mammy caricatures are often portrayed as kind, loving "friends" of whites.
This depiction is also implied in the word nigger. The Brute caricature depicts black men as angry, physically strong, animalistic,Īnd prone to wanton violence. Self-indulgent these are also traits historically represented by the word nigger. The Coon caricature, for example, portrays black men as lazy, ignorant, and obsessively 2 it is usually directed against blacks who supposedly have certain negative characteristics. Although nigger has been used to refer to any person of known African ancestry. It was largely due to the importance of crime scene photography that the system of photographing the criminals themselves through mug shots was invented, also by Alphonse Bertillon.There is a direct and strong link between the word nigger and anti-black caricatures. Known as the "Gods-eye-view," the tripod quickly gained popularity amongst investigators as it provided a clear, top-down view of the corpse, in addition to other wide-angle shots of the scenes.įorensic photographers soon became staples in police departments around the world, and entire networks for crime scene photos were established. The importance of crime scene photography was first recognized by Alphonse Bertillon who is now widely remembered as the first forensic photographer.īertillon was the first to suggest photographing not only the body but also the entire scene around the body, including shell casings, bloodstains, overturned furniture, broken doorways, and anything that could have been a piece of the larger investigative puzzle.īertillon even created a custom tripod that allowed him to center his camera directly above a corpse. Investigative Photography Becomes A Regular Part Of Police WorkĪdoc-photos/Corbis via Getty Images Alphonse Bertillon's "God's-Eye-View" tripod system. But with photos, the scene could be revisited time and time again, allowing new sets of eyes to pick out new details. Photography fixed these shortcomings.Īfter the scene was cleaned up, any visual evidence was cleaned up with it. Investigators did their best to take notes and detail the scene, but certain aspects went unnoticed or were eventually forgotten. It was certainly not used to capture something as horrifying as dead bodies - particularly bludgeoned ones.Īnd yet, it was rapidly discovered that these photos, as unsettling as they were, were incredibly useful when it came to investigating a crime. Even more importantly, he captured the body of Madame Debeinche sprawled on the floor by the side of her bed, her limbs bent at unnatural angles, the tips of her extremities darkening, showing hours had passed since she'd been killed.Īt the time, the camera was still a relatively novel invention used mostly for posed portraits. The photographer focused on a few key details, like a tilted painting on the wall, disheveled bed linens, and overturned chairs. As investigators descended upon the apartment, one of them picked up a camera and photographed the scene.
One of the first famous crime scene photos was taken on May 5, 1903, in the home of a Parisian woman named Madame Debeinche who had been murdered. This is one of the first real crime scene photos ever taken.įorensic photography, or the practice of taking photos at the scene of a crime, has been around for over a century. Metropolitan Museum of Art Madame Debeinche lies dead in her bedroom, 1903.
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