Hair Like Mine
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Hair Like Mine is a 2009 photograph by Pete Souza of a five-year-old child, Jacob Philadelphia, touching the head of Barack Obama, then president of the United States. He invited Philadelphia to touch his hair after the boy asked whether Obama's hair was similar to his own afro-textured hair. Time called the image "iconic", and it was later described by First Lady Michelle Obama as symbolizing progress made in the African-American struggle for civil rights.
The photograph was taken on May 8, 2009, in the Oval Office of the White House by Souza, who was the chief official White House photographer.[1] Philadelphia's father, Carlton Philadelphia, had worked as a staff member of the United States National Security Council for two years. He was leaving the job and had been invited to bring his family to the Oval Office for a "departure photo" with Obama.[2] Jacob Philadelphia quietly asked the president: "I want to know if your hair is like mine."[3] Obama asked him to repeat the question, then replied, "Why don't you touch it and see for yourself?" and lowered his head. Souza's photograph captures the moment that Philadelphia touches Obama's head.[3]
Souza later said that Jacob had said that "his friends had said his haircut was just like the president's and he wanted to see if it really was ... He asked the president if he could touch his head and the president bent over and he touched his head."[1] Carlton Philadelphia's other son, Isaac, asked Obama about the cancellation of production of the F-22 Raptor fighter jet and was told that it was financially unviable.[4] The questions were asked as the family was about to leave Obama; the boys' parents had not known what their children were going to ask him, and Souza himself was surprised at this moment. Souza's surprise is reflected in the composition of the photograph with Jacob Philadelphia's arm obscuring his face, the blurring of his brother Isaac, and in the heads of the boys' parents being cut off by the framing of the image.[4]
Obama subsequently proffered his head to Edwin Caleb, a first grader in 2014 who remarked that he had short hair like his in a visit to Clarence Tinker Elementary School at MacDill Air Force Base.[5]
