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JARED RAGLAND

University of Mississippi

IN-PROGRESS

What Has Been Will Be Again
an unfixed pilgrimage

RECENT PROJECTS

The Circle
Hellbender
 Some Million Miles
Where You Come From is Gone
 Everything Is Going To Be All Right
Assignment + Editorial

TEACHING PORTFOLIO


RESEARCH STATEMENT


NEWS

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ABOUT

Jared Ragland is a fine art and documentary photographer and former White House photo editor. His collaborative, socially-conscious work critically confronts issues of identity, marginalization, and the history of place.
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jared@jaredragland.com
+1 202 436 1082

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BREAKING THE RULE OF ONE: THE WASHINGTON POST  


Virettia Whiteside, Fayette city councilwoman and manager of the Mayfair Manor and Valley Cove apartments in Fayette, Ala. Following a contested election in August 2020, Whiteside is the first Black woman elected to the city’s Ward 1 seat. Whiteside’s victory was largely due to her efforts in registering voters and encouraging absentee voting in the government subsidized apartments she manages. The Valley Cove Apartments, managed by Fayette city council member Virettia Whiteside, the first Black woman elected to the city's Ward 1 seat. The Valley Cove Apartments, managed by Fayette city council member Virettia Whiteside and occupied by fast-food workers, veterans, and elderly and disabled people, is located next to a cotton field in the city's Ward 1. Ward 1, Fayette, Ala. Downtown Fayette, Ala. Residents of Fayette regularly refer to the town as a kind of "Mayberry" where everyone knows everyone and gets along, but the city's 2020 municipal election revealed deep racial division and mistrust among Fayette's townspeople. Confederate monument, downtown Fayette, Ala. When local Fayette ministers held a prayer vigil for racial justice during the height of nationwide protests in summer 2020, an organizer quietly asked people not to bring Black Lives Matter signs for fear of confirming locals' fears stoked by conspiracy theories and white supremacist rhetoric. Floyd Rogers, Jr. stands outside his home in Fayette's Ward 2. Rogers is Whiteside's cousin and also ran for a city council seat in 2020. While Ward 2 is 70-80% white and Rogers is a convicted felon, he lost by just six votes. On the day this photograph was taken, Rogers was awaiting news of a potential pardon granted by outgoing President Donald J. Trump. Rogers did not receive the pardon. Former council member Cedric Wilson served Fayette's historically Black Ward 4 for more than 20 years before stepping down in an unsuccessful bid for mayor. Early in the race Wilson ran uncontested, but after three other Black candidates began campaigns for city council seats – something that had never happened before in Fayette – whites across Fayette began to worry that “the Blacks were taking over.” Several white candidates then declared their intent to run for mayor and unfounded rumors began to spread about Wilson's intent to fire white city workers if he was elected. Wilson's early support eroded, and he was defeated in the August 25 municipal election. "It's not that I lost, but how I lost that hurt," Wilson said. Aliska Hughes-Monroe, Virettia's best friend, was elected to represent the historically Black neighborhoods in Fayette's Ward 4. Their combined presence changed the longtime makeup of the council. Zach, a resident of the Mayfair Manor Apartments, joined many other of his fellow residents in a multiracial coalition of fast-food workers, former addicts, veterans, the elderly and disabled to support apartment manager Virettia Whiteside’s election to the Fayette city council. Residents from East Side organized alongside tenants at Mayfair Manor and Valley Cove to build a multiracial coalition of fast-food workers, former addicts, veterans, the elderly and disabled, and a few who kept declining to fill out voter registration forms until it became clear they could not read. Residents sit outside Mayfair Manor. Following Whiteside's victory, investigators from the district attorney’s office visited Mayfair Manor three times asking tenants if their absentee ballots had been coerced. A corkboard at Mayfair Manor displays a newspaper clipping about Whiteside's council election victory in August 2020. Fayette, Ala. Downtown Fayette, Ala. Downtown Fayette, Ala. Downtown Fayette, Ala. Whiteside regularly works long hours, taking care of her tenants and helping residents with problems that could be as small as needing a ride to the grocery store and as large as not being able to afford medication. Virettia Whiteside talks with a resident of the Mayfair Apartments. The Fayette City Council — with members Tommy Williams and Virettia Whiteside — meets at City Hall in Fayette, Ala. Mayor Rod Northam is seen in the foreground. Scottie Carl Porter, sits inside his antique store in downtown Fayette. Porter, an ardent Trump supporter and believer in unfounded racist and anti-Semitic conspiracy theories, lost a lawsuit against Whiteside that disputed her eligibility to hold office in Ward 1 because she owns a home outside of it. Haughton Acres, a predominantly white neighborhood in Fayette's Ward 1. Haughton Acres, a predominantly white neighborhood in Fayette's Ward 1. Christian bookstore, located in Ward 1 of Fayette, Ala.
After upending a racial norm in the rural South, a Black councilwoman contends with defiance from a community she wants to serve and is carried on a journey through wild conspiracies, investigations, and a failed lawsuit aimed at overturning her groundbreaking election. By Stephanie McCrummen / Bronwen Lattimer, photo editor.

Read here: Breaking the Rule of One


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