1920's RPPC Hidden Mother Holding African American Girl w' Baby Shoes Like Spats

Description

Portrait photographers have always had schemes for keeping children still, especially when exposure times were longer.  In this one, an little African American girl sits against an an amorphous background of cloth, her feet dangling. Look closer and a bit of the dark cloth is folded tightly over her arm above the elbow -  I think that her mother is hiding behind the drape, and this is her mother's cloth draped hand gripping her arm. The cloth rises up to the right and just above it is what looks like the edge of the mother's with a flower on it. The baby is dressed in white  with baby shoes made like spats. The Azo stampbox on the back dates from 1918 to 1930, though the image looks older to me. The edges are soiled and there are several spots that look like white paint.