Credits & rights
Every image, accounted for
7 portrait records
Portrait categories in this edition
- : 7
- : 1
- : 3
- : 5
- : 8
- : 18
11 portraits have been upgraded with verified source originals and item-level evidence. No category implies another: “no known restrictions” is an institutional statement, not a public-domain finding.
Agency and institutional images
Maintain accurate historical context, credit the creator/agency, preserve source records and avoid implying subject or agency endorsement.
NASA, National Park Service, U.S. Air Force and Library of Congress images are used for factual educational biography profiles. Their use does not imply endorsement by any agency or by the people shown. No promotional, merchandise or separate personality-rights clearance is asserted. These limits do not prevent the identified factual educational profile use.
Evidence reviewed 2026-11-08.
Provenance
Alice Augusta Ball
- Kind
- Historical photograph
- Credit / creator
- Alice Augusta Ball, 1915; University of Hawaiʻi via Wikimedia Commons; photographer unknown
- Source page
- https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Alice_Augusta_Ball.jpg
- Original file
- https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/c/c5/Alice_Augusta_Ball.jpg
- Local cache
/media/portraits/alice-ball.jpg+ responsive WebP copies (resized; original stays at source)- Original date
- Not recorded in this edition
Permission
Source-declared public domain
Recorded statement: “Public domain in the United States, according to the inspected Wikimedia Commons file record.”
Reviewed 2026-11-08. Category summarizes the source statement; not a legal determination.
Provenance
Charlotta Bass
- Kind
- Photograph: Bass at right, with Paul Robeson
- Caption
- Charlotta Bass (right, holding papers) with Paul Robeson (left), 1949.
- Credit / creator
- Charlotta Bass with Paul Robeson, 1949; National Park Service
- Source page
- https://www.nps.gov/people/charlottabass.htm
- Original file
- https://www.nps.gov/common/uploads/people/nri/20180306/people/DAB455C7-1DD8-B71B-0BD9936FED6C9A25/DAB455C7-1DD8-B71B-0BD9936FED6C9A25.jpg
- Local cache
/media/portraits/charlotta-bass.jpg+ responsive WebP copies (resized; original stays at source)- Original date
- Not recorded in this edition
Permission
Source-declared public domain
Recorded statement: “Public domain, explicitly labeled by NPS; group image, identify Bass in caption”
Reviewed 2026-11-08. Category summarizes the source statement; not a legal determination.
Provenance
Bridget “Biddy” Mason
- Kind
- Portrait
- Credit / creator
- Portrait of Biddy Mason, date unknown; National Park Service
- Source page
- https://www.nps.gov/people/biddymason.htm
- Original file
- https://www.nps.gov/common/uploads/people/nri/20180314/people/72E2384A-1DD8-B71B-0B21E88A69D8E00C/72E2384A-1DD8-B71B-0B21E88A69D8E00C.jpg
- Local cache
/media/portraits/biddy-mason.jpg+ responsive WebP copies (resized; original stays at source)- Original date
- Not recorded in this edition
Permission
Source-declared public domain
Recorded statement: “Public domain, explicitly labeled by NPS”
Reviewed 2026-11-08. Category summarizes the source statement; not a legal determination.
Provenance
Augusta Savage
- Kind
- Portrait
- Title
- Andrew Herman, AAA 2371 / AAADCD_item_2371
- Credit / creator
- Andrew Herman, Augusta Savage with her sculpture Realization, circa 1938. Federal Art Project, Photographic Division collection, Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution, item 2371. U.S. public domain.
- Source page
- https://www.aaa.si.edu/collections/items/detail/augusta-savage-her-sculpture-realization-2371
- Original file
- https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/0/02/Archives_of_American_Art_-_Augusta_Savage_-_2371.jpg
- Local cache
/media/portraits/augusta-savage.jpg+ responsive WebP copies (resized; original stays at source)- Original date
- circa 1938
- Quality
- Highest-resolution authentic archival version retrieved in this bounded review; not a claim about every version available.
- Composition
- Artist on the right with Realization; the full photograph includes nonsexual artistic nudity in the sculpture. Preserve the artist-and-work context, or document any portrait crop.
- Display
- Full photograph shown: the artist (right) with her sculpture Realization.
- Source size
- 3275 × 4152 px
Permission
Source-declared public domain
Recorded statement: “U.S. public domain, according to the exact Archives of American Art item Use Note. The Commons copy identifies the Federal Art Project photograph and its WPA public-domain basis.”
Rights evidence: https://www.aaa.si.edu/collections/items/detail/augusta-savage-her-sculpture-realization-2371
Item evidence (checked 2026-11-08):
- Exact primary collection item: The record identifies Andrew Herman, circa 1938, item 2371, and U.S. public domain.
- Smithsonian primary metadata mirror: Use Note: U.S. public domain; citation names Andrew Herman and the Federal Art Project collection. Verso description and the image match the download.
- Full-resolution scan mirror: Exact AAA item 2371; 3275 by 4152 pixels; identifies WPA provenance.
Qualification: The Smithsonian mirror also displays generic Usage Conditions Apply boilerplate; the item-specific Use Note expressly says U.S. public domain. This finding concerns this photograph and does not establish rights for all photographs or sculptures by Savage.
Reviewed 2026-11-08. Category summarizes the source statement; not a legal determination.
Provenance
Arturo Alfonso Schomburg
- Kind
- Portrait
- Credit / creator
- From The New York Public Library, Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture, Photographs and Prints Division; portrait issued 1904.
- Source page
- https://old-digitalcollections.nypl.org/items/df395c90-9e1a-0134-15ad-00505686a51c
- Original file
- https://images.nypl.org/index.php?download=1&id=psnypl_scg_494&suffix=df395c90-9e1a-0134-15ad-00505686a51c.001&t=w
- Local cache
/media/portraits/arturo-alfonso-schomburg.jpg+ responsive WebP copies (resized; original stays at source)- Original date
- Not recorded in this edition
Permission
Source-declared public domain
Recorded statement: “NYPL identifies this image as public domain under United States law; status elsewhere not determined.”
Reviewed 2026-11-08. Category summarizes the source statement; not a legal determination.
Provenance
James Van Der Zee
- Kind
- Portrait
- Credit / creator
- James Van Der Zee, Self-portrait, 1918. Via BlackPast and Wikimedia Commons.
- Source page
- https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:James_Van_Der_Zee.jpg
- Original file
- https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/f/f3/James_Van_Der_Zee.jpg
- Local cache
/media/portraits/james-van-der-zee.jpg+ responsive WebP copies (resized; original stays at source)- Original date
- See credit
- Source size
- 1024 × 1283 px
Permission
Source-declared public domain
Recorded statement: “Commons identifies this specific 1918 self-portrait as public domain in the United States (PD-US-expired / publication before 1931). This declaration applies to this image, not all Van Der Zee photographs.”
License URL: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:James_Van_Der_Zee.jpg#Licensing
Upgraded portrait, checked 2026-11-08. Evidence: File-level public-domain declaration and photographer/date inspected. The file cites BlackPast. Earlier 1931 Met photograph remains copyrighted and is not cleared by this alternative.
Qualification: Public-domain status rests on the Wikimedia Commons declaration for this 1918 self-portrait; its first publication has not been independently verified. Verification records the explicit Commons item declaration; the upload record does not supply a separate historical first-publication citation.
Reviewed 2026-11-08. Category summarizes the source statement; not a legal determination.
Provenance
Gladys West
- Kind
- Historical photograph
- Title
- Gladys West at her Air Force Hall of Fame induction, December 6, 2018
- Credit / creator
- Adrian Cadiz / Secretary of the Air Force Public Affairs, 181206-F-DT527-087 (2018).
- Source page
- https://www.spoc.spaceforce.mil/Multimedia/Photos/igphoto/2002069983
- Original file
- https://media.defense.gov/2018/Dec/06/2002069983/-1/-1/0/181206-F-DT527-087.JPG
- Local cache
/media/portraits/gladys-west.jpg+ responsive WebP copies (resized; original stays at source)- Original date
- See credit
- Quality
- Unresized source file retained; highest-resolution version obtained from the inspected source, not a claim that no larger archival master exists.
- Source size
- 5568 × 3712 px
Permission
Source-declared public domain
Recorded statement: “Public domain in the United States, supported by the original photograph’s explicit Public Domain IPTC rights field and Secretary of the Air Force Public Affairs creator/credit metadata. Historical educational reuse is supported; retain attribution and the agency non-endorsement notice.”
Rights evidence: https://www.dvidshub.net/about/copyright
Item evidence (checked 2026-11-08):
- Original JPEG IPTC ObjectName: 181206-F-DT527-087; By-line: Adrian Cadiz; By-line Title and Credit: Secretary of the Air Force Public Affairs; Copyright Notice: Public Domain.
- The retained original SHA-1 exactly matches the Commons original file record: d2e55c5d5b812365adc7295fb4ba1bb9afc382b5.
- Commons links the same official agency source and states official-duty Air Force public-domain status; the original embedded rights field supplies item-level evidence independent of the Commons label.
Qualification: Item-level Public Domain metadata and federal creator identity resolve this photograph’s copyright basis; no inference that all military-hosted imagery is unrestricted. Official image-detail and media.defense.gov endpoints returned 403 during this check. The full-size original already acquired from the documented Commons mirror was inspected and copied unchanged; no claim of successful new direct agency download.
Scope: Educational biography profile use; not advertising, endorsement or merchandise.
Notice: The appearance of U.S. Department of War (DoW) visual information does not imply or constitute DoW endorsement.
Reviewed 2026-11-08. Category summarizes the source statement; not a legal determination.
Contextual media register
13 of 13 reuse-supported contextual items. Local copies are optimized WebP derivatives; the original-quality file stays at its source.
Provenance
Sequoia Road Crew, 1903
Date: 1903 · Creator: Photographer unidentified; National Park Service repository
Figure: Charles Young
Source size: 1500 × 1210 px
Permission
Public domain
Item Constraints Information states Public domain:Full Granting Rights.
Editorial: Historical group photograph; supports cooperative infrastructure work. NPS item location is administrative repository, not the photographed location.
Provenance
Looking up into the heavens
Date: 2019-11-11 · Creator: NPS/Tom Engberg
Figure: Charles Young
Source size: 6000 × 4000 px
Permission
Public domain
Item explicitly credits NPS/Tom Engberg and states Public domain:Full Granting Rights.
Editorial: Modern landscape context, not a 1903 photograph and not the Charles Young Tree. Caption must preserve this distinction.
Provenance
California Eagle front page, April 8, 1916
Date: 1916-04-08 · Creator: California Eagle
Figure: Charlotta Bass
Source size: 5342 × 6575 px
Permission
Public domain in the United States
Commons PD-US statement; newspaper first published in 1916. File source is the digitized issue in the California Eagle Internet Archive microfilm collection.
Editorial: An authentic issue, not a reconstruction. Historic language and advertisements require educator preview. Black newspaper ownership and community campaigning are stronger context than treating this front page as Bass’s sole authored work.
- Educator-context image hidden
Provenance
The Death of Cleopatra
Date: Sculpture carved 1876; photograph 2010 · Creator: Edmonia Lewis, sculptor; Gene Young, photographer; Smithsonian American Art Museum
Figure: Edmonia Lewis
Source size: 2250 × 3000 px
Permission
CC0 1.0
Commons reproduces Smithsonian Open Access file and CC0 license; Smithsonian collection record saam_1994.17 independently lists Restrictions & Rights: CC0.
Editorial: Artwork depicts death and includes partial artistic nudity; suitable for an educator-facing article, with educator preview before use in K–2. No sensational account of suicide in child-facing text.
Educator-context only: This classical sculpture depicts a death scene and partial nudity. Educator preview recommended before use with children.
Provenance
Crowd at the Washington Monument during the March on Washington
Date: 1963-08-28 · Creator: David L. Harris; Library of Congress
Figure: Bayard Rustin
Source size: 4994 × 3399 px
Permission
No known restrictions on publication
Library of Congress item Rights Advisory explicitly says No known restrictions on publication; this is a repository advisory, not a warranty or an explicit CC license.
Editorial: Event context for Bayard Rustin’s organizing role; do not identify Rustin as a person in this crowd without evidence. Original TIFF preserved; website derivative may be generated without retouching.
Provenance
Home of Mary Ellen Pleasant and Thomas Bell’s family
Date: 1892-10-17 · Creator: Unidentified newspaper illustrator
Figure: Mary Ellen Pleasant
Source size: 650 × 710 px
Permission
Public domain
Commons identifies an 1892 newspaper illustration and marks the work public domain / Public Domain Mark.
Editorial: Supplemental medium-resolution image: display at modest width; not a full-width hero. Historical depiction rather than a current photograph. Do not infer legal ownership from the caption.
Provenance
Robert Smalls and the gun-boat Planter
Date: 1862-06-14 · Creator: Unidentified wood engraver; Harper’s Weekly; Library of Congress reproduction
Figure: Robert Smalls
Source size: 4096 × 3287 px
Permission
Public domain
Published in 1862; Commons PD-old-100-expired and Library of Congress No known restrictions on publication advisory.
Editorial: Historical wood engraving, not a photograph of the escape. The source file is the higher-resolution Library of Congress scan as supplied by Commons.
Provenance
Old Arrow Maker
Date: Modeled 1866, carved 1872; photograph 2004 · Creator: Edmonia Lewis, sculptor; Lea Christiano, photographer; Smithsonian American Art Museum
Figure: Edmonia Lewis
Source size: 2122 × 2829 px
Permission
CC0 1.0
Smithsonian Open Access image linked by Commons with CC0 dedication; no need to rely on a generic museum copyright assumption.
Editorial: Inspired by Longfellow’s poem, not a documentary representation of all Indigenous lives. Discuss Lewis’s artistic choices and distinguish romanticized literature from lived Indigenous cultures.
- Educator-context image hidden
Provenance
The Symbol of the Unconquered newspaper advertisement
Date: 1920-12-11 · Creator: Advertisement for Oscar Micheaux’s film; publisher’s typesetting unattributed
Figure: Oscar Micheaux
Source size: 3840 × 1012 px
Permission
Public domain in the United States
Commons PD-US designation and documented 1920 newspaper publication; source links the original newspaper issue.
Editorial: A contemporary promotional artifact, not a modern poster or reconstructed title. Historic marketing language requires educator preview. Use as evidence of filmmaking and distribution, not as an uncritical endorsement of its phrasing. Download uses the official 3840-pixel derivative because the original download was rate-limited; original URL retained. Contains historical racial labels and an adjacent advertisement using a racist caricature name; reserve this unaltered primary source for educator-led analysis, not a K–2 hero image.
Educator-context only: This historical newspaper page includes an adjacent advertisement with racist caricature. Shown for educator examination only.
Provenance
Latimer’s carbon-manufacturing patent drawing
Date: 1882-01-17 · Creator: Lewis H. Latimer; United States Patent Office publication
Credit: Lewis H. Latimer, U.S. Patent 252,386 (1882); scan via Google Patents.
Figure: Lewis Latimer
Source size: 1090 × 1600 px
Permission
Public domain in the United States: published in 1882.
Original 1882 patent publication. USPTO states patent text and drawings are typically unrestricted, subject to exceptions. No copyright notice found in inspected drawing or extracted text.
Editorial: Shows a manufacturing process, not the invention of the light bulb. PNG is a faithful render of PDF page 1; no historical content changed.
Provenance
A vehicle temperature-control design
Date: 1942-12-01 · Creator: Joseph A. Numero and Frederick M. Jones; United States Patent Office publication
Credit: Joseph A. Numero and Frederick M. Jones, U.S. Patent 2,303,857 (1942); scan via Google Patents.
Figure: Frederick McKinley Jones
Source size: 1090 × 1600 px
Permission
Patent drawing: reuse supported by USPTO patent-information guidance; no copyright notice found.
USPTO states patent text and drawings are typically unrestricted, with limited exceptions. Inspected page and extracted text of the full 17-page patent contain no copyright notice. No blanket claim that all patent content is public domain.
Editorial: Always credit both inventors. This is the 1942 joint patent, not Jones’s first refrigeration patent or an invention of all refrigeration. PNG is PDF page 1.
Provenance
Gladys West’s own satellite-data report
Date: 1986-06 · Creator: Gladys B. West, Naval Surface Weapons Center
Credit: Gladys B. West / Naval Surface Weapons Center, NSWC TR 86-149 (1986); scan via Wikimedia Commons.
Figure: Gladys West
Source size: 500 × 644 px
Permission
Public domain in the United States: work of the federal government.
Commons identifies the report as a federal employee’s official work under 17 USC 105. Title page confirms author, federal institution, June 1986, and approval for public release.
Editorial: The authentic title page is PDF page 3; the first two pages are microfiche/calibration material. This is a 500-pixel web preview, suitable for a small contextual card. It is evidence of West’s research, not a patent for inventing GPS alone.
Provenance
How early Landsat data reached people
Date: Undated historical diagram; NASA gallery updated 2025 · Creator: NASA
Credit: NASA, Earth Resources Technology Satellite communications diagram.
Figure: Valerie Thomas
Source size: 1920 × 1080 px
Permission
NASA educational/informational reuse supported; federal NASA image with no third-party credit.
Item credits NASA. NASA media guidance permits factual educational and informational use with acknowledgment and without implied endorsement; no third-party rights notice shown on item.
Editorial: Program context, not a drawing claimed to be made by Thomas. Her role is independently supported by NASA’s interview. Preserve diagram aspect ratio and offer enlargement; do not claim this diagram or entire Landsat system as her sole invention.
Partner logos
Exact approved files supplied by the partners; displayed unmodified with preserved proportions.
Black Muze Global Network
1024×358 PNG · verified 2026-11-08 · used with partner approval
Gold full horizontal mark; use against black/dark background. Keep clear space at least the GLOBAL NETWORK text height.
Obsidian Solutions
1024×1024 PNG · verified 2026-11-08 · used with partner approval
Full stacked mark including SOLUTIONS; use on dark quiet background, with clear space at least 15% of logo width. Preserve all elements and purple glow.
Pedagogy Muse
1024×430 PNG · verified 2026-11-08 · used with partner approval
Character and open book with green PEDAGOGY/red MUSE text. Prefer white or very light background for readable brand name. Keep character and book together, preserve colors and aspect ratio.
Data sources
- U.S. Census Bureau — 2026 National Places Gazetteer
Representative point of a modern Census place; not historical address or necessarily geometric centroid. Documentation - U.S. Census Bureau — 2026 National Counties Gazetteer
Representative point of a county; coarser accuracy than city-level data. Documentation - GeoNames — United States and Puerto Rico postal-code data · CC BY 4.0
Estimated WGS84 postal locality coordinates; GeoNames accuracy flags retained; not USPS-certified ZIP boundaries. Postal-code coordinates: GeoNames, CC BY 4.0. Modified into a ZIP lookup table. Documentation - U.S. Census Bureau — 2026 National County Subdivisions Gazetteer
Representative point of a modern township; used for Montclair, New Jersey. Documentation - GeoNames — San Francisco populated-city point (5391959) · CC BY 4.0
Populated-city point, replacing the Census representative point for San Francisco municipal territory including offshore islands. San Francisco city coordinate: GeoNames, CC BY 4.0. Documentation - OpenStreetMap map tiles © OpenStreetMap contributors (ODbL).