This image functions as a metonym in multiple senses. First of all, as it is one of the few images of early black settlers in Los Angeles, it stands in for the whole set of images an information about black life in this place during this era that does not exist. At the same time, this instance of metonymy is also metonymic itself; that is, it evidences an absence of attention and record of the subaltern which is generalizable across the entire project of "the archive."
This photo is one of only a few images that include African American pioneers in the “settler” story of Los Angeles. By including this image--front and center--the contributor is making visible a different narrative and history of LA at this particular time and space. In many ways the archive is haunted by this absence and the contributor is asking the question, what does it mean to make this history visible? What does it mean to do so now?