1. Southworth & Hawes

UNIDENTIFIED AFRICAN AMERICAN MAN

ca. 1850

Photography first came to America’s shores in 1839, long after the savagery of slavery had been inflicted on America’s blacks. The Eastman House collection has a number of photographs of African Americans taken in the 1850s and 1860s with the early daguerreotype and ambrotype photographic processes. It would appear from these photographs, by the style of dress, etc., that the “sitters” were free African Americans, most likely from the North and, probably, from the middle class, since photographers’ fees, though minimal by today’s standards, were not inexpensive in their time. An interesting series of photographs of African Americans from this period appears in the Studio Record Book maintained by Josiah Johnson Hawes who, with Albert Sands Southworth, operated one of the most famous American portrait studios in Boston. Among the small copy prints pasted in Hawes’s Record Book are a number of black sitters. Three of these are of the same man, J.J. Johnson of Brattle Street. Hawes’s numbering system would indicate that Mr. Johnson visited the studio for a portrait session at least twice during September 1865. The photographic record, presented through the images in this catalogue, also traces several recurring themes from the African American experience. One of these is the importance of religion. It is fitting that one of the earliest images is a daguerreotype of a minister.

2. Unidentified photographer

UNIDENTIFIED AFRICAN AMERICAN WOMAN WEARING WHITE GLOVES

ca. 1855

Photography first came to America’s shores in 1839, long after the savagery of slavery had been inflicted on America’s blacks. The Eastman House collection has a number of photographs of African Americans taken in the 1850s and 1860s with the early daguerreotype and ambrotype photographic processes. It would appear from these photographs, by the style of dress, etc., that the “sitters” were free African Americans, most likely from the North and, probably, from the middle class, since photographers’ fees, though minimal by today’s standards, were not inexpensive in their time. An interesting series of photographs of African Americans from this period appears in the Studio Record Book maintained by Josiah Johnson Hawes who, with Albert Sands Southworth, operated one of the most famous American portrait studios in Boston. Among the small copy prints pasted in Hawes’s Record Book are a number of black sitters. Three of these are of the same man, J.J. Johnson of Brattle Street. Hawes’s numbering system would indicate that Mr. Johnson visited the studio for a portrait session at least twice during September 1865. The photographic record, presented through the images in this catalogue, also traces several recurring themes from the African American experience. One of these is the importance of religion. It is fitting that one of the earliest images is a daguerreotype of a minister.

3. Unidentified photographer

UNIDENTIFIED AFRICAN AMERICAN MAN

ca. 1850s

Photography first came to America’s shores in 1839, long after the savagery of slavery had been inflicted on America’s blacks. The Eastman House collection has a number of photographs of African Americans taken in the 1850s and 1860s with the early daguerreotype and ambrotype photographic processes. It would appear from these photographs, by the style of dress, etc., that the “sitters” were free African Americans, most likely from the North and, probably, from the middle class, since photographers’ fees, though minimal by today’s standards, were not inexpensive in their time. An interesting series of photographs of African Americans from this period appears in the Studio Record Book maintained by Josiah Johnson Hawes who, with Albert Sands Southworth, operated one of the most famous American portrait studios in Boston. Among the small copy prints pasted in Hawes’s Record Book are a number of black sitters. Three of these are of the same man, J.J. Johnson of Brattle Street. Hawes’s numbering system would indicate that Mr. Johnson visited the studio for a portrait session at least twice during September 1865. The photographic record, presented through the images in this catalogue, also traces several recurring themes from the African American experience. One of these is the importance of religion. It is fitting that one of the earliest images is a daguerreotype of a minister.

4. Unidentified photographer

THREE AFRICAN AMERICAN MEN

Photography first came to America’s shores in 1839, long after the savagery of slavery had been inflicted on America’s blacks. The Eastman House collection has a number of photographs of African Americans taken in the 1850s and 1860s with the early daguerreotype and ambrotype photographic processes. It would appear from these photographs, by the style of dress, etc., that the “sitters” were free African Americans, most likely from the North and, probably, from the middle class, since photographers’ fees, though minimal by today’s standards, were not inexpensive in their time. An interesting series of photographs of African Americans from this period appears in the Studio Record Book maintained by Josiah Johnson Hawes who, with Albert Sands Southworth, operated one of the most famous American portrait studios in Boston. Among the small copy prints pasted in Hawes’s Record Book are a number of black sitters. Three of these are of the same man, J.J. Johnson of Brattle Street. Hawes’s numbering system would indicate that Mr. Johnson visited the studio for a portrait session at least twice during September 1865. The photographic record, presented through the images in this catalogue, also traces several recurring themes from the African American experience. One of these is the importance of religion. It is fitting that one of the earliest images is a daguerreotype of a minister.

5. Unidentified photographer

PORTRAIT OF AN UNIDENTIFIED AFRICAN AMERICAN WOMAN

ca. 1860

Photography first came to America’s shores in 1839, long after the savagery of slavery had been inflicted on America’s blacks. The Eastman House collection has a number of photographs of African Americans taken in the 1850s and 1860s with the early daguerreotype and ambrotype photographic processes. It would appear from these photographs, by the style of dress, etc., that the “sitters” were free African Americans, most likely from the North and, probably, from the middle class, since photographers’ fees, though minimal by today’s standards, were not inexpensive in their time. An interesting series of photographs of African Americans from this period appears in the Studio Record Book maintained by Josiah Johnson Hawes who, with Albert Sands Southworth, operated one of the most famous American portrait studios in Boston. Among the small copy prints pasted in Hawes’s Record Book are a number of black sitters. Three of these are of the same man, J.J. Johnson of Brattle Street. Hawes’s numbering system would indicate that Mr. Johnson visited the studio for a portrait session at least twice during September 1865. The photographic record, presented through the images in this catalogue, also traces several recurring themes from the African American experience. One of these is the importance of religion. It is fitting that one of the earliest images is a daguerreotype of a minister.

6. Unidentified photographer

PORTRAIT OF AN UNIDENTIFIED AFRICAN AMERICAN WOMAN

ca. 1850

Photography first came to America’s shores in 1839, long after the savagery of slavery had been inflicted on America’s blacks. The Eastman House collection has a number of photographs of African Americans taken in the 1850s and 1860s with the early daguerreotype and ambrotype photographic processes. It would appear from these photographs, by the style of dress, etc., that the “sitters” were free African Americans, most likely from the North and, probably, from the middle class, since photographers’ fees, though minimal by today’s standards, were not inexpensive in their time. An interesting series of photographs of African Americans from this period appears in the Studio Record Book maintained by Josiah Johnson Hawes who, with Albert Sands Southworth, operated one of the most famous American portrait studios in Boston. Among the small copy prints pasted in Hawes’s Record Book are a number of black sitters. Three of these are of the same man, J.J. Johnson of Brattle Street. Hawes’s numbering system would indicate that Mr. Johnson visited the studio for a portrait session at least twice during September 1865. The photographic record, presented through the images in this catalogue, also traces several recurring themes from the African American experience. One of these is the importance of religion. It is fitting that one of the earliest images is a daguerreotype of a minister.

7. Unidentified photographer

UNIDENTIFIED MAN

ca. 1860s

Photography first came to America’s shores in 1839, long after the savagery of slavery had been inflicted on America’s blacks. The Eastman House collection has a number of photographs of African Americans taken in the 1850s and 1860s with the early daguerreotype and ambrotype photographic processes. It would appear from these photographs, by the style of dress, etc., that the “sitters” were free African Americans, most likely from the North and, probably, from the middle class, since photographers’ fees, though minimal by today’s standards, were not inexpensive in their time. An interesting series of photographs of African Americans from this period appears in the Studio Record Book maintained by Josiah Johnson Hawes who, with Albert Sands Southworth, operated one of the most famous American portrait studios in Boston. Among the small copy prints pasted in Hawes’s Record Book are a number of black sitters. Three of these are of the same man, J.J. Johnson of Brattle Street. Hawes’s numbering system would indicate that Mr. Johnson visited the studio for a portrait session at least twice during September 1865. The photographic record, presented through the images in this catalogue, also traces several recurring themes from the African American experience. One of these is the importance of religion. It is fitting that one of the earliest images is a daguerreotype of a minister.

8. Josiah Johnson Hawes

J.J. JOHNSON (3 VIEWS)

ca. September 1865

Photography first came to America’s shores in 1839, long after the savagery of slavery had been inflicted on America’s blacks. The Eastman House collection has a number of photographs of African Americans taken in the 1850s and 1860s with the early daguerreotype and ambrotype photographic processes. It would appear from these photographs, by the style of dress, etc., that the “sitters” were free African Americans, most likely from the North and, probably, from the middle class, since photographers’ fees, though minimal by today’s standards, were not inexpensive in their time. An interesting series of photographs of African Americans from this period appears in the Studio Record Book maintained by Josiah Johnson Hawes who, with Albert Sands Southworth, operated one of the most famous American portrait studios in Boston. Among the small copy prints pasted in Hawes’s Record Book are a number of black sitters. Three of these are of the same man, J.J. Johnson of Brattle Street. Hawes’s numbering system would indicate that Mr. Johnson visited the studio for a portrait session at least twice during September 1865. The photographic record, presented through the images in this catalogue, also traces several recurring themes from the African American experience. One of these is the importance of religion. It is fitting that one of the earliest images is a daguerreotype of a minister.

9. William R. Pywell

SLAVE PEN, ALEXANDRIA, VIRGINIA

August 1862

In the very important Civil War photographic document Gardner’s Photographic Sketchbook of the War, the inhumanness of slavery can be sensed in William R. Pywell’s photograph of an empty slave pen in Alexandria, Virginia, taken in August 1862. One can envision it as it had been, crowded with men, women and children “defenseless in their wretchedness,” each to be sold, as Frederick Douglass wrote, “like a beast in the market.” Two of the other recurring themes developed through the photographs in this kit trace back to these early days: the drive for education and the patriotic service of African Americans in the nation’s armed forces.

10. P.F. Cooper

AS WE FOUND THEM

1864

A group of photographs show slave children who were released by Union troops. Two of these show a brother and sister who were freed from their owner, Thomas White of Mathews County, Virginia, by Captain Riley of the 6th U. S. 0.1. on February 20, 1864, and taken to the Society of Friends in Philadelphia to be educated at the Orphan’s Shelter. The cartes-de-visite were sold to raise funds to educate the children. The captions on the photographs explain that the children’s mother had been “beaten, branded and sold at auction because she was kind to Union Soldiers.” She had been taken away to be sold in Richmond only seven days before the children were freed. Their story, when placed next to the Pywell photograph, puts the pain of the slave market into chilling perspective.

11. P.F. Cooper

AS THEY ARE NOW

1864

A group of photographs show slave children who were released by Union troops. Two of these show a brother and sister who were freed from their owner, Thomas White of Mathews County, Virginia, by Captain Riley of the 6th U. S. 0.1. on February 20, 1864, and taken to the Society of Friends in Philadelphia to be educated at the Orphan’s Shelter. The cartes-de-visite were sold to raise funds to educate the children. The captions on the photographs explain that the children’s mother had been “beaten, branded and sold at auction because she was kind to Union Soldiers.” She had been taken away to be sold in Richmond only seven days before the children were freed. Their story, when placed next to the Pywell photograph, puts the pain of the slave market into chilling perspective.

12. M.H. Kimball

REBECCA, AUGUSTA AND ROSA

1863

The other pair of photographs show four slave children who were freed and brought North by abolitionists to emphasize the plight of slaves. The proceeds from sale of the photographs were to be used to educate freed slaves who had come under the jurisdiction of the Union Army in the New Orleans area. A caption on one of these photographs points out that the children had been turned out of a hotel in Philadelphia because of their “color.” This comment was a telling statement about racist attitudes in the North regardless of abolitionist sentiment and the war itself.

13. James Earl McClees

THESE CHILDREN

1863

The other pair of photographs show four slave children who were freed and brought North by abolitionists to emphasize the plight of slaves. The proceeds from sale of the photographs were to be used to educate freed slaves who had come under the jurisdiction of the Union Army in the New Orleans area. A caption on one of these photographs points out that the children had been turned out of a hotel in Philadelphia because of their “color.” This comment was a telling statement about racist attitudes in the North regardless of abolitionist sentiment and the war itself.

14. Taylor and Huntington

A GROUP OF "CONTRABANDS"

ca. 1863

The next three photographs (14, 15, 16), two in stereo form, relate to the service of African Americans with the Union Army. One of the stereo views, “A group of ‘Contrabands ‘” shows several runaway slaves who joined the Union troops. The name, “Contra bands” was given to these runaways by Union General Benjamin Butler. A caption on the back of this photograph, written a quarter century after it was taken, said that “these Negroes were employed by the Government as teamsters, laborers, etc.”

15. John Reekie

BURIAL PARTY, COLD HARBOR, VIRGINIA

April 1865

Another image from Gardner’s Photographic Sketchbook of the War shows a group of African Americans on one of the more grisly labor details: It is called Burial Party, Cold Harbor, Virginia and was taken in April 1865.

16. Alexander Gardner

A WOUNDED NEGRO, CULPEPPER

1862

The other stereo view, taken by Alexander Gardner himself, shows “A Wounded Negro, Culpepper Virginia.” Made in 1862, it is one of the earliest such pictures produced.

17. Randall

SOJOURNER TRUTH

1864

The final photograph in the section relating to emancipation starts the thread throughout the kit of the struggle for civil rights. It is a portrait of Sojourner Truth, the ex-slave who took her special name and crisscrossed the country speaking out for the freedom of her people. In 1867, at a Convention of the Equal Rights Association, prior to the passage of the 14th Amendment to the United States Constitution, this valiant woman spoke not only for her race but also for her sex: “There is a great stir about colored men getting their rights, but not a word about the colored women; and if colored men get their rights, and not colored women theirs, you see the colored men will be masters over the women, and it will be just as bad as it was before.” On the carte-de-visite portrait of Sojourner Truth there appears the phrase “I Sell the Shadow to Support the Substance.” This refers to her need to sell copies of her photographs to raise funds with which to live.

18. Prescott and White

UNIDENTIFIED WOMAN

ca. 1860s

A series of photographs, reminiscent of the several early portraits, dominate the next section of the exhibition. They are all drawn from cities in the north or the Midwest and, with one exception, are of unidentified men and women. In photographic terms, they are albumen prints in either carte-de-visite or cabinet card formats or tintypes. They span the decades between the 1860s and 1890s. Those for which the photographer’s studio is known are from Hartford, Connecticut, Troy, New York, and Alliance, Ohio. The identified portrait is Fred S. Philips of Salem, New Jersey, taken by Pach Brothers, a prominent New York City studio. As in the earlier daguerreotypes and ambrotypes, the sitters appear well-dressed and at ease posing in the photographer’s studio.

19. Christopher C. Schoonmaker

UNIDENTIFIED MAN

ca. 1860s

A series of photographs, reminiscent of the several early portraits, dominate the next section of the exhibition. They are all drawn from cities in the north or the Midwest and, with one exception, are of unidentified men and women. In photographic terms, they are albumen prints in either carte-de-visite or cabinet card formats or tintypes. They span the decades between the 1860s and 1890s. Those for which the photographer’s studio is known are from Hartford, Connecticut, Troy, New York, and Alliance, Ohio. The identified portrait is Fred S. Philips of Salem, New Jersey, taken by Pach Brothers, a prominent New York City studio. As in the earlier daguerreotypes and ambrotypes, the sitters appear well-dressed and at ease posing in the photographer’s studio.

20. Unidentified photographer

UNIDENTIFIED WOMAN

1879

A series of photographs, reminiscent of the several early portraits, dominate the next section of the exhibition. They are all drawn from cities in the north or the Midwest and, with one exception, are of unidentified men and women. In photographic terms, they are albumen prints in either carte-de-visite or cabinet card formats or tintypes. They span the decades between the 1860s and 1890s. Those for which the photographer’s studio is known are from Hartford, Connecticut, Troy, New York, and Alliance, Ohio. The identified portrait is Fred S. Philips of Salem, New Jersey, taken by Pach Brothers, a prominent New York City studio. As in the earlier daguerreotypes and ambrotypes, the sitters appear well-dressed and at ease posing in the photographer’s studio.

21. Unidentified photographer

UNIDENTIFIED MAN

ca. 1880s

A series of photographs, reminiscent of the several early portraits, dominate the next section of the exhibition. They are all drawn from cities in the north or the Midwest and, with one exception, are of unidentified men and women. In photographic terms, they are albumen prints in either carte-de-visite or cabinet card formats or tintypes. They span the decades between the 1860s and 1890s. Those for which the photographer’s studio is known are from Hartford, Connecticut, Troy, New York, and Alliance, Ohio. The identified portrait is Fred S. Philips of Salem, New Jersey, taken by Pach Brothers, a prominent New York City studio. As in the earlier daguerreotypes and ambrotypes, the sitters appear well-dressed and at ease posing in the photographer’s studio.

22. Pach Brothers

FRED S. PHILIPS, SALEM, NEW JERSEY

ca. 1880s

A series of photographs, reminiscent of the several early portraits, dominate the next section of the exhibition. They are all drawn from cities in the north or the Midwest and, with one exception, are of unidentified men and women. In photographic terms, they are albumen prints in either carte-de-visite or cabinet card formats or tintypes. They span the decades between the 1860s and 1890s. Those for which the photographer’s studio is known are from Hartford, Connecticut, Troy, New York, and Alliance, Ohio. The identified portrait is Fred S. Philips of Salem, New Jersey, taken by Pach Brothers, a prominent New York City studio. As in the earlier daguerreotypes and ambrotypes, the sitters appear well-dressed and at ease posing in the photographer’s studio.

23. Lorin E. Miller

UNIDENTIFIED WOMAN

ca. 1880s

A series of photographs, reminiscent of the several early portraits, dominate the next section of the exhibition. They are all drawn from cities in the north or the Midwest and, with one exception, are of unidentified men and women. In photographic terms, they are albumen prints in either carte-de-visite or cabinet card formats or tintypes. They span the decades between the 1860s and 1890s. Those for which the photographer’s studio is known are from Hartford, Connecticut, Troy, New York, and Alliance, Ohio. The identified portrait is Fred S. Philips of Salem, New Jersey, taken by Pach Brothers, a prominent New York City studio. As in the earlier daguerreotypes and ambrotypes, the sitters appear well-dressed and at ease posing in the photographer’s studio.

24. Unidentified photographer

UNIDENTIFIED MAN IN ALBUM

ca. 1860s

An interesting pair of photographs are gem tintypes, each of an unidentified black man that appears in a white family album. Apparently these young men were servants and were photographed for the albums as part of the family group

25. Unidentified photographer

UNIDENTIFIED MAN IN ALBUM

ca. 1860s

An interesting pair of photographs are gem tintypes, each of an unidentified black man that appears in a white family album. Apparently these young men were servants and were photographed for the albums as part of the family group

26. Unidentified photographer

L. HAYDEN, BOSTON (MEMBER OF THE MASSACHUSETTS HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES)

1873

Another photographic album in the Museum’s collection shows all of the members of the Massachusetts House of Representatives in 1873. L. Hayden of Boston appears as the only Black among the State’s elected officials portrayed in the album.

27. Alexander Gardner

U.S. OVERLAND STAGE STARTING FOR DENVER FROM HAYS CITY

ca. 1867

From Across the Continent on the Kansas Pacific Railroad

Several other photographs are chronologically part of this period but form part of the themes that run through the exhibition. “U.S. Overland Stage,” taken around 1867, shows a stagecoach on the Kansas to California route. All of the soldiers who are riding as protection are African American.

28. Zalmon Gilbert

PRISON BABY

ca. 1876

Three other pictures (28, 29, 30) begin the recurring theme related to legal systems and justice. One is a carte-de-visite portrait of a “prison baby” (Willis D. Mason, born November 6, 1875). It was taken by Z. Gilbert of Joliet, Illinois, and appears to be of a child born to a woman held in prison.

29. Samuel M. Fox

WHIPPING POST, DELAWARE

ca. 1889

A second is entitled “Whipping Post, Delaware.” Taken by Samuel M. Fox, it shows a black man tied to a post with another man preparing to flog him. It dates to 1889.

30. William Van der Weyde

SING SING PRISON

ca. 1890s

The third photograph is one of the most disturbing pictures in the exhibition. Taken by William H. Vander Weyde in the 1890s at Sing Sing Prison in Ossining, New York, it shows a man being strapped into an electric chair. We know nothing about the circumstances of the situation, such as the crime, the trial, or the prisoner’s name. The power of the picture speaks for itself.

31. Strohmeyer and Wyman

COTTON IS KING, PLANTATION SCENE (GEORGIA)

1895

Covering a span of sixty years, over thirty photographs show various aspects of the lives of African Americans primarily in the rural South. As Amanda Smith Jemand wrote in 1901: “The Southerner boasts this is a white man’s country. I deny it; it is my country as well as his. The South, especially, is as much the black man’s as the white man’s; for every plantation, town and city shows the work of his hand.” William E. B. DuBois, two years later, wrote that “in well-nigh the whole rural South the black farmers are peons, bound by law and custom to an economic slavery, from which the only escape is death or the penitentiary.”

The first photograph in this section of the exhibition is a stereograph, the title of which reads “Cotton is King, Plantation Scene, Georgia, U.S.A.”. It shows field hands picking cotton, one of them a young girl.

32. Kilburn Brothers

WAITING FOR YOUR TEAM AT THE COTTON GIN, FLORIDA

1879

Completing the series on King Cotton are two other stereoviews, one of a group of men and boys waiting for their wagon teams at a cotton gin in Florida, the other showing bales of cotton being loaded on a levee in Texas. The three photographs span the twenty year period from 1879 to about 1900. However, they clearly illustrate life for many Southern African Americans as it continued well into the 20th century. For even in the 1960s, educator Septima P. Clark would recall in her autobiography that her pupils “didn’t come in until the cotton had been picked, and often it was Christmas and sometimes even January before all the cotton was gleaned.”

33. Keystone View Company

CARS LOADED WITH COTTON BALES ON LEVEE, TENNESSEE

ca. 1900

Completing the series on King Cotton are two other stereoviews, one of a group of men and boys waiting for their wagon teams at a cotton gin in Florida, the other showing bales of cotton being loaded on a levee in Texas. The three photographs span the twenty year period from 1879 to about 1900. However, they clearly illustrate life for many Southern African Americans as it continued well into the 20th century. For even in the 1960s, educator Septima P. Clark would recall in her autobiography that her pupils “didn’t come in until the cotton had been picked, and often it was Christmas and sometimes even January before all the cotton was gleaned.”

34. Kilburn Brothers

HURRAH, INAUGURATION DAY, WASHINGTON D.C.

March 4, 1889

Showing other aspects of life in the South for African Americans at the end of the 19th century are three additional stereographs. One shows a group, including a number of African Americans, celebrating Inauguration Day in Washington, D. C. on March 4,1889.

35. George Barker

A FAMILY GROUP, ST. AUGUSTINE, FLORIDA

1888

Another depicts a family group in St. Augustine, Florida, and the third shows women at a washing camp in South Carolina.

36. J.A. Palmer

WASHING CAMP, SOUTH CAROLINA

ca. 1870s

Another depicts a family group in St. Augustine, Florida, and the third shows women at a washing camp in South Carolina.

37. Kilburn Brothers

THE COLORED SCHOOL, VICKSBURG, MISSISSIPPI

1891

The post Civil War years led to extensive efforts by many people to try to provide educational opportunities to the freed African Americans. Four pictures from the end of the 19th century expand this theme. Three stereographs show “The Colored School” in Vicksburg, Mississippi, the “Stanton Institute” in Jacksonville, Florida, and the “Jubilee Singers” from Fisk University, Nashville, Tennessee. These three pictures document the effort to offer education at all levels.

38. Unidentified photographer

STANTON INSTITUTE, JACKSONVILLE, FLORIDA

ca. 1890s

The post Civil War years led to extensive efforts by many people to try to provide educational opportunities to the freed African Americans. Four pictures from the end of the 19th century expand this theme. Three stereographs show “The Colored School” in Vicksburg, Mississippi, the “Stanton Institute” in Jacksonville, Florida, and the “Jubilee Singers” from Fisk University, Nashville, Tennessee. These three pictures document the effort to offer education at all levels.

39. James Wallace

JUBILEE SINGERS, FISK UNIVERSITY, NASHVILLE, TENNESSEE

ca. 1875

The post Civil War years led to extensive efforts by many people to try to provide educational opportunities to the freed African Americans. Four pictures from the end of the 19th century expand this theme. Three stereographs show “The Colored School” in Vicksburg, Mississippi, the “Stanton Institute” in Jacksonville, Florida, and the “Jubilee Singers” from Fisk University, Nashville, Tennessee. These three pictures document the effort to offer education at all levels.

40. A.D. White

UNION OF THE RACES, JACKSONVILLE, FLORIDA

ca. 1890s

The final picture from the 19th century directly related to Southern life is a group picture entitled “Union of the Races” taken in Jacksonville, Florida, and shows black and white men and women gathered on a porch together.

41. Unidentified photographer

BOOKER T. WASHINGTON

ca. 1900

The 19th century closed with the United States emerging as a world power as a result of the Spanish American War. Booker T. Washington (figure 41), in addressing a meeting in Boston at the end of the War, said:“When you have gotten the full story of the heroic conduct of the Negro in the Spanish-American War, have heard it from the lips of Northern soldier and Southern soldier, from ex-abolitionist and ex-masters, then decide within yourselves whether a race that is thus willing to die for its country should not be given the highest opportunity to live for its country.”

Recognizing this contribution to the War, the “9th Ohio (colored)” troop was depicted in a stereograph taken at Camp Alger in Virginia (figure 42), a detail of which is reproduced in this catalogue.

42. Charles Webster and Josephus Albee

9TH OHIO (COLORED) AT CAMP ALGER (DETAIL), VIRGINIA

ca. 1897

The 19th century closed with the United States emerging as a world power as a result of the Spanish American War. Booker T. Washington (figure 41), in addressing a meeting in Boston at the end of the War, said:“When you have gotten the full story of the heroic conduct of the Negro in the Spanish-American War, have heard it from the lips of Northern soldier and Southern soldier, from ex-abolitionist and ex-masters, then decide within yourselves whether a race that is thus willing to die for its country should not be given the highest opportunity to live for its country.”

Recognizing this contribution to the War, the “9th Ohio (colored)” troop was depicted in a stereograph taken at Camp Alger in Virginia (figure 42), a detail of which is reproduced in this catalogue.

43. Lewis Wickes Hine

TENEMENT ROOKERIES, WASHINGTON D.C.

ca. 1908

Although it is the capital of the United States, Washington, D. C. has been primarily a “Southern” city. It has always housed many African Americans but, as with the rest of the South, it has not always been hospitable to this population. In 1907 Mary Church Terrell wrote that “surely nowhere in the world do oppression and persecution based solely on color of the skin appear more hateful and hideous than in the capital of the United States. . . “
Two photographs from Washington, D. C. in the first decade of the 20th century sum up the sad facts of Mrs. Terrell’s comments. One shows the shattered back yards of a slum area, a lone black woman leaning on her porch railing (figure 43). The other is a picture of a tiny girl sitting in a chair in front of a curtain-draped window. Hanging precariously in the window frame is a sign for the “Temporary Home for Colored Children” (figure 44). Both of these photographs were taken by Lewis W. Hine.

44. Lewis W. Hine

ORPHAN

ca. 1906

Although it is the capital of the United States, Washington, D. C. has been primarily a “Southern” city. It has always housed many African Americans but, as with the rest of the South, it has not always been hospitable to this population. In 1907 Mary Church Terrell wrote that “surely nowhere in the world do oppression and persecution based solely on color of the skin appear more hateful and hideous than in the capital of the United States. . . “
Two photographs from Washington, D. C. in the first decade of the 20th century sum up the sad facts of Mrs. Terrell’s comments. One shows the shattered back yards of a slum area, a lone black woman leaning on her porch railing (figure 43). The other is a picture of a tiny girl sitting in a chair in front of a curtain-draped window. Hanging precariously in the window frame is a sign for the “Temporary Home for Colored Children” (figure 44). Both of these photographs were taken by Lewis W. Hine.

45. Lewis Wickes Hine

MOTHER AND TWO CHILDREN

ca. 1910

Noted for his famous images of immigrants arriving at Ellis Island and children working in factories and mines, Hine took an eloquent series of photographs of black life in the South between the turn of the century and the early 1930s. A number of these highlight the section of the exhibition dealing with the rural South (figures 42-55). Among the Southern African Americans depicted by Hine, we see families or individuals at home in shacks, as well as in finely appointed houses or, as in one instance, a public library. We see two women hard at work, one in a print shop, the other in a tobacco factory. We also find the continuing theme of education with a pair of photographs of a group of little children being cared for in a nursery school and two men attending a literacy class.
In the middle of this series is a Hine portrait of a sergeant at the Rainbow Division Camp, taken in 1917 during America’s participation in World War I (figure 48). A stereograph, published by the Keystone View Company, shows an enthusiastic New York City crowd welcoming the “Colored Veterans of the 15th Regiment, 369th Infantry” on their return from fighting in Europe (figure 49). When America went to war, African Americans were again there doing their share.

46. Lewis W. Hine

UNIDENTIFIED WOMAN

ca. 1910

Noted for his famous images of immigrants arriving at Ellis Island and children working in factories and mines, Hine took an eloquent series of photographs of black life in the South between the turn of the century and the early 1930s. A number of these highlight the section of the exhibition dealing with the rural South (figures 42-55). Among the Southern African Americans depicted by Hine, we see families or individuals at home in shacks, as well as in finely appointed houses or, as in one instance, a public library. We see two women hard at work, one in a print shop, the other in a tobacco factory. We also find the continuing theme of education with a pair of photographs of a group of little children being cared for in a nursery school and two men attending a literacy class.
In the middle of this series is a Hine portrait of a sergeant at the Rainbow Division Camp, taken in 1917 during America’s participation in World War I (figure 48). A stereograph, published by the Keystone View Company, shows an enthusiastic New York City crowd welcoming the “Colored Veterans of the 15th Regiment, 369th Infantry” on their return from fighting in Europe (figure 49). When America went to war, African Americans were again there doing their share.

47. Lewis W. Hine

UNIDENTIFIED MAN

ca. 1915

Noted for his famous images of immigrants arriving at Ellis Island and children working in factories and mines, Hine took an eloquent series of photographs of black life in the South between the turn of the century and the early 1930s. A number of these highlight the section of the exhibition dealing with the rural South (figures 42-55). Among the Southern African Americans depicted by Hine, we see families or individuals at home in shacks, as well as in finely appointed houses or, as in one instance, a public library. We see two women hard at work, one in a print shop, the other in a tobacco factory. We also find the continuing theme of education with a pair of photographs of a group of little children being cared for in a nursery school and two men attending a literacy class.
In the middle of this series is a Hine portrait of a sergeant at the Rainbow Division Camp, taken in 1917 during America’s participation in World War I (figure 48). A stereograph, published by the Keystone View Company, shows an enthusiastic New York City crowd welcoming the “Colored Veterans of the 15th Regiment, 369th Infantry” on their return from fighting in Europe (figure 49). When America went to war, African Americans were again there doing their share.

48. Lewis W. Hine

SERGEANT, RAINBOW DIVISION CAMP

1917

Noted for his famous images of immigrants arriving at Ellis Island and children working in factories and mines, Hine took an eloquent series of photographs of black life in the South between the turn of the century and the early 1930s. A number of these highlight the section of the exhibition dealing with the rural South (figures 42-55). Among the Southern African Americans depicted by Hine, we see families or individuals at home in shacks, as well as in finely appointed houses or, as in one instance, a public library. We see two women hard at work, one in a print shop, the other in a tobacco factory. We also find the continuing theme of education with a pair of photographs of a group of little children being cared for in a nursery school and two men attending a literacy class.
In the middle of this series is a Hine portrait of a sergeant at the Rainbow Division Camp, taken in 1917 during America’s participation in World War I (figure 48). A stereograph, published by the Keystone View Company, shows an enthusiastic New York City crowd welcoming the “Colored Veterans of the 15th Regiment, 369th Infantry” on their return from fighting in Europe (figure 49). When America went to war, African Americans were again there doing their share.

49. Keystone View Co.

COLORED VETERANS OF THE 15TH REGIMENT 369TH INFANTRY MARCHING UP FIFTH AVENUE, N.Y.C.

1918

Noted for his famous images of immigrants arriving at Ellis Island and children working in factories and mines, Hine took an eloquent series of photographs of black life in the South between the turn of the century and the early 1930s. A number of these highlight the section of the exhibition dealing with the rural South (figures 42-55). Among the Southern African Americans depicted by Hine, we see families or individuals at home in shacks, as well as in finely appointed houses or, as in one instance, a public library. We see two women hard at work, one in a print shop, the other in a tobacco factory. We also find the continuing theme of education with a pair of photographs of a group of little children being cared for in a nursery school and two men attending a literacy class.
In the middle of this series is a Hine portrait of a sergeant at the Rainbow Division Camp, taken in 1917 during America’s participation in World War I (figure 48). A stereograph, published by the Keystone View Company, shows an enthusiastic New York City crowd welcoming the “Colored Veterans of the 15th Regiment, 369th Infantry” on their return from fighting in Europe (figure 49). When America went to war, African Americans were again there doing their share.

50. Lewis W. Hine

CHILDREN IN NURSERY SCHOOL

ca. 1920

Noted for his famous images of immigrants arriving at Ellis Island and children working in factories and mines, Hine took an eloquent series of photographs of black life in the South between the turn of the century and the early 1930s. A number of these highlight the section of the exhibition dealing with the rural South (figures 42-55). Among the Southern African Americans depicted by Hine, we see families or individuals at home in shacks, as well as in finely appointed houses or, as in one instance, a public library. We see two women hard at work, one in a print shop, the other in a tobacco factory. We also find the continuing theme of education with a pair of photographs of a group of little children being cared for in a nursery school and two men attending a literacy class.
In the middle of this series is a Hine portrait of a sergeant at the Rainbow Division Camp, taken in 1917 during America’s participation in World War I (figure 48). A stereograph, published by the Keystone View Company, shows an enthusiastic New York City crowd welcoming the “Colored Veterans of the 15th Regiment, 369th Infantry” on their return from fighting in Europe (figure 49). When America went to war, African Americans were again there doing their share.

51. Lewis W. Hine

LITERACY CLASS

ca. 1920

Noted for his famous images of immigrants arriving at Ellis Island and children working in factories and mines, Hine took an eloquent series of photographs of black life in the South between the turn of the century and the early 1930s. A number of these highlight the section of the exhibition dealing with the rural South (figures 42-55). Among the Southern African Americans depicted by Hine, we see families or individuals at home in shacks, as well as in finely appointed houses or, as in one instance, a public library. We see two women hard at work, one in a print shop, the other in a tobacco factory. We also find the continuing theme of education with a pair of photographs of a group of little children being cared for in a nursery school and two men attending a literacy class.
In the middle of this series is a Hine portrait of a sergeant at the Rainbow Division Camp, taken in 1917 during America’s participation in World War I (figure 48). A stereograph, published by the Keystone View Company, shows an enthusiastic New York City crowd welcoming the “Colored Veterans of the 15th Regiment, 369th Infantry” on their return from fighting in Europe (figure 49). When America went to war, African Americans were again there doing their share.

52. Lewis Wickes Hine

EXPERT LINOTYPIST

ca. 1920

Noted for his famous images of immigrants arriving at Ellis Island and children working in factories and mines, Hine took an eloquent series of photographs of black life in the South between the turn of the century and the early 1930s. A number of these highlight the section of the exhibition dealing with the rural South (figures 42-55). Among the Southern African Americans depicted by Hine, we see families or individuals at home in shacks, as well as in finely appointed houses or, as in one instance, a public library. We see two women hard at work, one in a print shop, the other in a tobacco factory. We also find the continuing theme of education with a pair of photographs of a group of little children being cared for in a nursery school and two men attending a literacy class.
In the middle of this series is a Hine portrait of a sergeant at the Rainbow Division Camp, taken in 1917 during America’s participation in World War I (figure 48). A stereograph, published by the Keystone View Company, shows an enthusiastic New York City crowd welcoming the “Colored Veterans of the 15th Regiment, 369th Infantry” on their return from fighting in Europe (figure 49). When America went to war, African Americans were again there doing their share.

53. Lewis W. Hine

TOBACCO WORKER

ca. 1920

Noted for his famous images of immigrants arriving at Ellis Island and children working in factories and mines, Hine took an eloquent series of photographs of black life in the South between the turn of the century and the early 1930s. A number of these highlight the section of the exhibition dealing with the rural South (figures 42-55). Among the Southern African Americans depicted by Hine, we see families or individuals at home in shacks, as well as in finely appointed houses or, as in one instance, a public library. We see two women hard at work, one in a print shop, the other in a tobacco factory. We also find the continuing theme of education with a pair of photographs of a group of little children being cared for in a nursery school and two men attending a literacy class.
In the middle of this series is a Hine portrait of a sergeant at the Rainbow Division Camp, taken in 1917 during America’s participation in World War I (figure 48). A stereograph, published by the Keystone View Company, shows an enthusiastic New York City crowd welcoming the “Colored Veterans of the 15th Regiment, 369th Infantry” on their return from fighting in Europe (figure 49). When America went to war, African Americans were again there doing their share.

54. Lewis W. Hine

WOMEN AT HOME

ca. 1920

Noted for his famous images of immigrants arriving at Ellis Island and children working in factories and mines, Hine took an eloquent series of photographs of black life in the South between the turn of the century and the early 1930s. A number of these highlight the section of the exhibition dealing with the rural South (figures 42-55). Among the Southern African Americans depicted by Hine, we see families or individuals at home in shacks, as well as in finely appointed houses or, as in one instance, a public library. We see two women hard at work, one in a print shop, the other in a tobacco factory. We also find the continuing theme of education with a pair of photographs of a group of little children being cared for in a nursery school and two men attending a literacy class.
In the middle of this series is a Hine portrait of a sergeant at the Rainbow Division Camp, taken in 1917 during America’s participation in World War I (figure 48). A stereograph, published by the Keystone View Company, shows an enthusiastic New York City crowd welcoming the “Colored Veterans of the 15th Regiment, 369th Infantry” on their return from fighting in Europe (figure 49). When America went to war, African Americans were again there doing their share.

55. Lewis W. Hine

MEN IN LIBRARY

ca. 1920

Noted for his famous images of immigrants arriving at Ellis Island and children working in factories and mines, Hine took an eloquent series of photographs of black life in the South between the turn of the century and the early 1930s. A number of these highlight the section of the exhibition dealing with the rural South (figures 42-55). Among the Southern African Americans depicted by Hine, we see families or individuals at home in shacks, as well as in finely appointed houses or, as in one instance, a public library. We see two women hard at work, one in a print shop, the other in a tobacco factory. We also find the continuing theme of education with a pair of photographs of a group of little children being cared for in a nursery school and two men attending a literacy class.
In the middle of this series is a Hine portrait of a sergeant at the Rainbow Division Camp, taken in 1917 during America’s participation in World War I (figure 48). A stereograph, published by the Keystone View Company, shows an enthusiastic New York City crowd welcoming the “Colored Veterans of the 15th Regiment, 369th Infantry” on their return from fighting in Europe (figure 49). When America went to war, African Americans were again there doing their share.

56. Doris Ulmann

GROUP AT CHURCH MEETING

ca. 1930

Doris Ulmann, a wealthy white woman from the North, had taken up photography and focused her lens primarily upon the people of the South. In doing so, she produced a rich body of work portraying black life in South Carolina in the 1929-30 period. Four of Ulmann’s images appear in the kit; all continue the sub-themes. One shows a crowded church service filled with joyous women in summer white dresses. Another shows a group of men on a work detail, all dressed in striped prison uniforms. The other two depict the work ethic with which the black experience is imbued, seen also in the earlier series by Lewis Hine.

57. Doris Ulmann

MEN ON CHAIN GANG DIGGING DITCH

ca. 1930

Doris Ulmann, a wealthy white woman from the North, had taken up photography and focused her lens primarily upon the people of the South. In doing so, she produced a rich body of work portraying black life in South Carolina in the 1929-30 period. Four of Ulmann’s images appear in the kit; all continue the sub-themes. One shows a crowded church service filled with joyous women in summer white dresses. Another shows a group of men on a work detail, all dressed in striped prison uniforms. The other two depict the work ethic with which the black experience is imbued, seen also in the earlier series by Lewis Hine.

58. Doris Ulmann

WOMAN IN FIELD STANDING WITH HAND-HELD PLOW

ca. 1930

Doris Ulmann, a wealthy white woman from the North, had taken up photography and focused her lens primarily upon the people of the South. In doing so, she produced a rich body of work portraying black life in South Carolina in the 1929-30 period. Four of Ulmann’s images appear in the kit; all continue the sub-themes. One shows a crowded church service filled with joyous women in summer white dresses. Another shows a group of men on a work detail, all dressed in striped prison uniforms. The other two depict the work ethic with which the black experience is imbued, seen also in the earlier series by Lewis Hine.

59. Doris Ulmann

MAN AND BOY WITH BOAT

ca. 1929 - 1930

Doris Ulmann, a wealthy white woman from the North, had taken up photography and focused her lens primarily upon the people of the South. In doing so, she produced a rich body of work portraying black life in South Carolina in the 1929-30 period. Four of Ulmann’s images appear in the kit; all continue the sub-themes. One shows a crowded church service filled with joyous women in summer white dresses. Another shows a group of men on a work detail, all dressed in striped prison uniforms. The other two depict the work ethic with which the black experience is imbued, seen also in the earlier series by Lewis Hine.

60. Lewis W. Hine

RED CROSS DELIVERING SEEDS TO DROUGHT SUFFERERS, MISSISSIPPI

1930

Natural disasters and the economic plight of the Great Depression were the reasons that the final group of photographs from the rural South were produced. Lewis Hine documented an American Red Cross relief effort for drought sufferers in Mississippi in 1930. The photograph from this series displayed in the exhibition shows a distribution center for seeds to be given to stricken farmers. A group of white farmers, all of whom have received their packages, stand on one side of the porch. A long line of black farmers wait in line to receive their packages on the other side of the porch.

61. Walker Evans

VICKSBURG, MISSISSIPPI

1936

The Farm Security Administration’ s team of photographers captured images of the plight of African Americans in the rural South, as well as of whites and migrant workers across the country. Walker Evans, Dorothea Lange and Arthur Rothstein all produced strong photographs from this period.

62. Dorothea Lange

EX-SLAVE WITH LONG MEMORY, ALABAMA

1937

The Farm Security Administration’ s team of photographers captured images of the plight of African Americans in the rural South, as well as of whites and migrant workers across the country. Walker Evans, Dorothea Lange and Arthur Rothstein all produced strong photographs from this period.

63. Arthur Rothstein

ONE FAMILY, ALABAMA

1938

The Farm Security Administration’ s team of photographers captured images of the plight of African Americans in the rural South, as well as of whites and migrant workers across the country. Walker Evans, Dorothea Lange and Arthur Rothstein all produced strong photographs from this period.

64. Arthur Rothstein

GEE'S BEND, ALABAMA

1938

The Farm Security Administration’ s team of photographers captured images of the plight of African Americans in the rural South, as well as of whites and migrant workers across the country. Walker Evans, Dorothea Lange and Arthur Rothstein all produced strong photographs from this period.

65. Nickolas Muray

LANGSTON HUGHES

ca. 1925

Among the many black leaders that emerged during the first decades of the 20th century, there were noted individuals in the arts and education. Nickolas Muray, a prominent celebrity portrait photographer of the 1920s to the 1960s, took a striking picture of poet Langston Hughes around 1925 (figure 65). Edward Steichen did a series of photographs of Paul Robeson a decade later (figure 66). And Aaron Siskind produced an historic moment when Mary McLeod Bethune, the famous educator, stood on the altar of a church with union leader A. Philip Randolph at a service for pullman porters in the mid 1930s (figure 67).

66. Edward Steichen

PAUL ROBESON

ca. 1935

Among the many black leaders that emerged during the first decades of the 20th century, there were noted individuals in the arts and education. Nickolas Muray, a prominent celebrity portrait photographer of the 1920s to the 1960s, took a striking picture of poet Langston Hughes around 1925 (figure 65). Edward Steichen did a series of photographs of Paul Robeson a decade later (figure 66). And Aaron Siskind produced an historic moment when Mary McLeod Bethune, the famous educator, stood on the altar of a church with union leader A. Philip Randolph at a service for pullman porters in the mid 1930s (figure 67).

67. Aaron Siskind

MARY MCLEOD BETHUNE AND A. PHILIP RANDOLPH

ca. 1935

Among the many black leaders that emerged during the first decades of the 20th century, there were noted individuals in the arts and education. Nickolas Muray, a prominent celebrity portrait photographer of the 1920s to the 1960s, took a striking picture of poet Langston Hughes around 1925 (figure 65). Edward Steichen did a series of photographs of Paul Robeson a decade later (figure 66). And Aaron Siskind produced an historic moment when Mary McLeod Bethune, the famous educator, stood on the altar of a church with union leader A. Philip Randolph at a service for pullman porters in the mid 1930s (figure 67).

68. Morris Engel

STREET SCENE, HARLEM

ca. 1939

Poet-playwright-diplomat James Weldon Johnson called Harlem a Negro metropolis in his book Black Manhattan. He talked of the struggle of its residents to make a living, the power of its churches, its disintegrating forces, and its gaiety and zest for life.

Around 1939 a group of members of the Photo League of New York took an extensive series of photographs, which they formed into an exhibition called "Harlem Document." These photographs by different members of the Photo League illustrate various aspects of Harlem life - the poverty, the struggle for work and education, religion, the joys of life and the indomitable spirit of African Americans. The photographers included Aaron Siskind, who donated his personal collection of "Harlem Document" photographs to the International Museum of Photography, Beatrice Kosofsky, Jack Manning (Mendelsohn), Richard Lyon, Harold Corsini and Morris Engel.

69. Beatrice Kosofsky

APARTMENT RENTAL SIGN

ca. 1939

Poet-playwright-diplomat James Weldon Johnson called Harlem a Negro metropolis in his book Black Manhattan. He talked of the struggle of its residents to make a living, the power of its churches, its disintegrating forces, and its gaiety and zest for life.

Around 1939 a group of members of the Photo League of New York took an extensive series of photographs, which they formed into an exhibition called "Harlem Document." These photographs by different members of the Photo League illustrate various aspects of Harlem life - the poverty, the struggle for work and education, religion, the joys of life and the indomitable spirit of African Americans. The photographers included Aaron Siskind, who donated his personal collection of "Harlem Document" photographs to the International Museum of Photography, Beatrice Kosofsky, Jack Manning (Mendelsohn), Richard Lyon, Harold Corsini and Morris Engel.

70. Jack Manning

TENEMENT YARDS

ca. 1939

Poet-playwright-diplomat James Weldon Johnson called Harlem a Negro metropolis in his book Black Manhattan. He talked of the struggle of its residents to make a living, the power of its churches, its disintegrating forces, and its gaiety and zest for life.

Around 1939 a group of members of the Photo League of New York took an extensive series of photographs, which they formed into an exhibition called "Harlem Document." These photographs by different members of the Photo League illustrate various aspects of Harlem life - the poverty, the struggle for work and education, religion, the joys of life and the indomitable spirit of African Americans. The photographers included Aaron Siskind, who donated his personal collection of "Harlem Document" photographs to the International Museum of Photography, Beatrice Kosofsky, Jack Manning (Mendelsohn), Richard Lyon, Harold Corsini and Morris Engel.

71. Jack Manning

INSIDE A KITCHEN

ca. 1937

Poet-playwright-diplomat James Weldon Johnson called Harlem a Negro metropolis in his book Black Manhattan. He talked of the struggle of its residents to make a living, the power of its churches, its disintegrating forces, and its gaiety and zest for life.

Around 1939 a group of members of the Photo League of New York took an extensive series of photographs, which they formed into an exhibition called "Harlem Document." These photographs by different members of the Photo League illustrate various aspects of Harlem life - the poverty, the struggle for work and education, religion, the joys of life and the indomitable spirit of African Americans. The photographers included Aaron Siskind, who donated his personal collection of "Harlem Document" photographs to the International Museum of Photography, Beatrice Kosofsky, Jack Manning (Mendelsohn), Richard Lyon, Harold Corsini and Morris Engel.

72. Aaron Siskind

NEWSPAPER OFFICE

ca. 1939

Poet-playwright-diplomat James Weldon Johnson called Harlem a Negro metropolis in his book Black Manhattan. He talked of the struggle of its residents to make a living, the power of its churches, its disintegrating forces, and its gaiety and zest for life.

Around 1939 a group of members of the Photo League of New York took an extensive series of photographs, which they formed into an exhibition called "Harlem Document." These photographs by different members of the Photo League illustrate various aspects of Harlem life - the poverty, the struggle for work and education, religion, the joys of life and the indomitable spirit of African Americans. The photographers included Aaron Siskind, who donated his personal collection of "Harlem Document" photographs to the International Museum of Photography, Beatrice Kosofsky, Jack Manning (Mendelsohn), Richard Lyon, Harold Corsini and Morris Engel.

73. Jack Manning

PICKETS

ca. 1937

Poet-playwright-diplomat James Weldon Johnson called Harlem a Negro metropolis in his book Black Manhattan. He talked of the struggle of its residents to make a living, the power of its churches, its disintegrating forces, and its gaiety and zest for life.

Around 1939 a group of members of the Photo League of New York took an extensive series of photographs, which they formed into an exhibition called "Harlem Document." These photographs by different members of the Photo League illustrate various aspects of Harlem life - the poverty, the struggle for work and education, religion, the joys of life and the indomitable spirit of African Americans. The photographers included Aaron Siskind, who donated his personal collection of "Harlem Document" photographs to the International Museum of Photography, Beatrice Kosofsky, Jack Manning (Mendelsohn), Richard Lyon, Harold Corsini and Morris Engel.

74. Harold Corsini

WOMEN SITTING IN LINE FOR EMPLOYMENT

ca. 1935

Poet-playwright-diplomat James Weldon Johnson called Harlem a Negro metropolis in his book Black Manhattan. He talked of the struggle of its residents to make a living, the power of its churches, its disintegrating forces, and its gaiety and zest for life.

Around 1939 a group of members of the Photo League of New York took an extensive series of photographs, which they formed into an exhibition called "Harlem Document." These photographs by different members of the Photo League illustrate various aspects of Harlem life - the poverty, the struggle for work and education, religion, the joys of life and the indomitable spirit of African Americans. The photographers included Aaron Siskind, who donated his personal collection of "Harlem Document" photographs to the International Museum of Photography, Beatrice Kosofsky, Jack Manning (Mendelsohn), Richard Lyon, Harold Corsini and Morris Engel.

75. Harold Corsini

CHURCH SERVICE

ca. 1935

Poet-playwright-diplomat James Weldon Johnson called Harlem a Negro metropolis in his book Black Manhattan. He talked of the struggle of its residents to make a living, the power of its churches, its disintegrating forces, and its gaiety and zest for life.

Around 1939 a group of members of the Photo League of New York took an extensive series of photographs, which they formed into an exhibition called "Harlem Document." These photographs by different members of the Photo League illustrate various aspects of Harlem life - the poverty, the struggle for work and education, religion, the joys of life and the indomitable spirit of African Americans. The photographers included Aaron Siskind, who donated his personal collection of "Harlem Document" photographs to the International Museum of Photography, Beatrice Kosofsky, Jack Manning (Mendelsohn), Richard Lyon, Harold Corsini and Morris Engel.

76. Harold Corsini

CHILDREN DRAWING

ca. 1935

Poet-playwright-diplomat James Weldon Johnson called Harlem a Negro metropolis in his book Black Manhattan. He talked of the struggle of its residents to make a living, the power of its churches, its disintegrating forces, and its gaiety and zest for life.

Around 1939 a group of members of the Photo League of New York took an extensive series of photographs, which they formed into an exhibition called "Harlem Document." These photographs by different members of the Photo League illustrate various aspects of Harlem life - the poverty, the struggle for work and education, religion, the joys of life and the indomitable spirit of African Americans. The photographers included Aaron Siskind, who donated his personal collection of "Harlem Document" photographs to the International Museum of Photography, Beatrice Kosofsky, Jack Manning (Mendelsohn), Richard Lyon, Harold Corsini and Morris Engel.

77. Richard Lyon

BOY SCOUT TROOP

ca. 1939

Poet-playwright-diplomat James Weldon Johnson called Harlem a Negro metropolis in his book Black Manhattan. He talked of the struggle of its residents to make a living, the power of its churches, its disintegrating forces, and its gaiety and zest for life.

Around 1939 a group of members of the Photo League of New York took an extensive series of photographs, which they formed into an exhibition called "Harlem Document." These photographs by different members of the Photo League illustrate various aspects of Harlem life - the poverty, the struggle for work and education, religion, the joys of life and the indomitable spirit of African Americans. The photographers included Aaron Siskind, who donated his personal collection of "Harlem Document" photographs to the International Museum of Photography, Beatrice Kosofsky, Jack Manning (Mendelsohn), Richard Lyon, Harold Corsini and Morris Engel.

78. Morris Engel

MOTHER WITH STROLLER

ca. 1939

Poet-playwright-diplomat James Weldon Johnson called Harlem a Negro metropolis in his book Black Manhattan. He talked of the struggle of its residents to make a living, the power of its churches, its disintegrating forces, and its gaiety and zest for life.

Around 1939 a group of members of the Photo League of New York took an extensive series of photographs, which they formed into an exhibition called "Harlem Document." These photographs by different members of the Photo League illustrate various aspects of Harlem life - the poverty, the struggle for work and education, religion, the joys of life and the indomitable spirit of African Americans. The photographers included Aaron Siskind, who donated his personal collection of "Harlem Document" photographs to the International Museum of Photography, Beatrice Kosofsky, Jack Manning (Mendelsohn), Richard Lyon, Harold Corsini and Morris Engel.

79. Jack Manning

MEN IN STREET

ca. 1939

Poet-playwright-diplomat James Weldon Johnson called Harlem a Negro metropolis in his book Black Manhattan. He talked of the struggle of its residents to make a living, the power of its churches, its disintegrating forces, and its gaiety and zest for life.

Around 1939 a group of members of the Photo League of New York took an extensive series of photographs, which they formed into an exhibition called "Harlem Document." These photographs by different members of the Photo League illustrate various aspects of Harlem life - the poverty, the struggle for work and education, religion, the joys of life and the indomitable spirit of African Americans. The photographers included Aaron Siskind, who donated his personal collection of "Harlem Document" photographs to the International Museum of Photography, Beatrice Kosofsky, Jack Manning (Mendelsohn), Richard Lyon, Harold Corsini and Morris Engel.

80. Jack Manning

WOMAN IN FUR COAT

ca. 1937

Poet-playwright-diplomat James Weldon Johnson called Harlem a Negro metropolis in his book Black Manhattan. He talked of the struggle of its residents to make a living, the power of its churches, its disintegrating forces, and its gaiety and zest for life.

Around 1939 a group of members of the Photo League of New York took an extensive series of photographs, which they formed into an exhibition called "Harlem Document." These photographs by different members of the Photo League illustrate various aspects of Harlem life - the poverty, the struggle for work and education, religion, the joys of life and the indomitable spirit of African Americans. The photographers included Aaron Siskind, who donated his personal collection of "Harlem Document" photographs to the International Museum of Photography, Beatrice Kosofsky, Jack Manning (Mendelsohn), Richard Lyon, Harold Corsini and Morris Engel.

81. Aaron Siskind

SAXOPHONE PLAYER

ca. 1939

Poet-playwright-diplomat James Weldon Johnson called Harlem a Negro metropolis in his book Black Manhattan. He talked of the struggle of its residents to make a living, the power of its churches, its disintegrating forces, and its gaiety and zest for life.

Around 1939 a group of members of the Photo League of New York took an extensive series of photographs, which they formed into an exhibition called "Harlem Document." These photographs by different members of the Photo League illustrate various aspects of Harlem life - the poverty, the struggle for work and education, religion, the joys of life and the indomitable spirit of African Americans. The photographers included Aaron Siskind, who donated his personal collection of "Harlem Document" photographs to the International Museum of Photography, Beatrice Kosofsky, Jack Manning (Mendelsohn), Richard Lyon, Harold Corsini and Morris Engel.

82. Aaron Siskind

SAVOY

ca. 1939

Poet-playwright-diplomat James Weldon Johnson called Harlem a Negro metropolis in his book Black Manhattan. He talked of the struggle of its residents to make a living, the power of its churches, its disintegrating forces, and its gaiety and zest for life.

Around 1939 a group of members of the Photo League of New York took an extensive series of photographs, which they formed into an exhibition called "Harlem Document." These photographs by different members of the Photo League illustrate various aspects of Harlem life - the poverty, the struggle for work and education, religion, the joys of life and the indomitable spirit of African Americans. The photographers included Aaron Siskind, who donated his personal collection of "Harlem Document" photographs to the International Museum of Photography, Beatrice Kosofsky, Jack Manning (Mendelsohn), Richard Lyon, Harold Corsini and Morris Engel.

83. Aaron Siskind

SAVOY DANCERS

1935

Poet-playwright-diplomat James Weldon Johnson called Harlem a Negro metropolis in his book Black Manhattan. He talked of the struggle of its residents to make a living, the power of its churches, its disintegrating forces, and its gaiety and zest for life.

Around 1939 a group of members of the Photo League of New York took an extensive series of photographs, which they formed into an exhibition called "Harlem Document." These photographs by different members of the Photo League illustrate various aspects of Harlem life - the poverty, the struggle for work and education, religion, the joys of life and the indomitable spirit of African Americans. The photographers included Aaron Siskind, who donated his personal collection of "Harlem Document" photographs to the International Museum of Photography, Beatrice Kosofsky, Jack Manning (Mendelsohn), Richard Lyon, Harold Corsini and Morris Engel.

84. Gordon Parks

PITTSBURGH GREASE PLANT

March 1944

With the onset of World War II, a continuing migration of African Americans to the North in search of work took place. Several photographs from the 1940s and 1950s document this migration. In the 1940s Gordon Parks, noted photographer, cinematographer, poet and composer, silhouetted a man in the steam of a Pittsburgh grease plant, and a woman, with her mops and brooms, against the American flag as she cleaned an office (84, 85). Arthur Rothstein showed a white and a black working together at Fort Loudon Dam in Tennessee in 1942 (86).

85. Gordon Parks

CLEANING WOMAN, WASHINGTON D.C

1942

With the onset of World War II, a continuing migration of African Americans to the North in search of work took place. Several photographs from the 1940s and 1950s document this migration. In the 1940s Gordon Parks, noted photographer, cinematographer, poet and composer, silhouetted a man in the steam of a Pittsburgh grease plant, and a woman, with her mops and brooms, against the American flag as she cleaned an office (84, 85). Arthur Rothstein showed a white and a black working together at Fort Loudon Dam in Tennessee in 1942 (86).

86. Arthur Rothstein

RIGGER AND SIGNALMAN, FORT LOUDON DAM, TENNESSEE

1942

With the onset of World War II, a continuing migration of African Americans to the North in search of work took place. Several photographs from the 1940s and 1950s document this migration. In the 1940s Gordon Parks, noted photographer, cinematographer, poet and composer, silhouetted a man in the steam of a Pittsburgh grease plant, and a woman, with her mops and brooms, against the American flag as she cleaned an office (84, 85). Arthur Rothstein showed a white and a black working together at Fort Loudon Dam in Tennessee in 1942 (86).

87. U.S. Navy

WOUNDED SAILOR

ca. 1944

The Second World War again gave African Americans the opportunity to show their patriotism. As Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. later wrote, "not until World War II did the Army begin to conceive that it had the right, the obligation and the ability to say that a white man in uniform must respect the dignity of a black man in uniform." A press photo issued by the U.S. Navy shows this in action, as a group of white servicemen lower a wounded black sailor to the deck.

88. Clara E. Sipprell

LIVERPOOL HAZARD (EX-SLAVE FROM BUTLER PLANTATION, GEORGIA)

1942

Portraits of other African Americans, some famous, some not, fill out these years of change. Duke Ellington playing at the Hurricane in New York City (90), Joe Louis defending his World Heavyweight title (91), Marian Anderson finally arriving on the stage of the Metropolitan Opera House (92), all speak to the beginnings of national recognition of achievements of African Americans.

89. Roy de Carava

GRADUATION

1949

Portraits of other African Americans, some famous, some not, fill out these years of change. Duke Ellington playing at the Hurricane in New York City (90), Joe Louis defending his World Heavyweight title (91), Marian Anderson finally arriving on the stage of the Metropolitan Opera House (92), all speak to the beginnings of national recognition of achievements of African Americans.

90. Gordon Parks

DUKE ELLINGTON AT THE HURRICANE, NYC

April 1943

Portraits of other African Americans, some famous, some not, fill out these years of change. Duke Ellington playing at the Hurricane in New York City (90), Joe Louis defending his World Heavyweight title (91), Marian Anderson finally arriving on the stage of the Metropolitan Opera House (92), all speak to the beginnings of national recognition of achievements of African Americans.

91. Associated Press

JOE LOUIS AND JOE WALCOTT

December 5, 1947

Portraits of other African Americans, some famous, some not, fill out these years of change. Duke Ellington playing at the Hurricane in New York City (90), Joe Louis defending his World Heavyweight title (91), Marian Anderson finally arriving on the stage of the Metropolitan Opera House (92), all speak to the beginnings of national recognition of achievements of African Americans.

92. Frank Mastro

MARIAN ANDERSON ON THE STAGE OF THE METROPOLITAN OPERA HOUSE

October 7, 1954

Portraits of other African Americans, some famous, some not, fill out these years of change. Duke Ellington playing at the Hurricane in New York City (90), Joe Louis defending his World Heavyweight title (91), Marian Anderson finally arriving on the stage of the Metropolitan Opera House (92), all speak to the beginnings of national recognition of achievements of African Americans.

93. Arnold Newman

JACOB LAWRENCE, BROOKLYN, NY

1959

As early as 1855 Frederick Douglass wrote about being “called upon to betake myself to the “Jim Crow Car” Over a hundred years later, the degrading documents of Jim Crowism and “separate-but-equal” persisted in many parts of the country, most entrenched in the South.

The civil rights movement exploded as legal systems forced change, and resistance to change died hard. Newspapers flashed a nation glimpses of the struggle – from black children being escorted into previously all-white schools to black leaders, like Martin Luther King Jr., being arrested, and demonstrators being doused by fire hoses to break up demonstrations to the march on Washington, D.C. in 1968 when Dr. King stood on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial and moved a nation with his words: “I have a dream that one day this nation will rise up and live out the true meaning of its creed; ‘We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal.’”

94. Associated Press

CHILDREN BEING ESCORTED TO LITTLE ROCK SCHOOL, ARKANSAS

September 25, 1957

As early as 1855 Frederick Douglass wrote about being “called upon to betake myself to the “Jim Crow Car” Over a hundred years later, the degrading documents of Jim Crowism and “separate-but-equal” persisted in many parts of the country, most entrenched in the South.

The civil rights movement exploded as legal systems forced change, and resistance to change died hard. Newspapers flashed a nation glimpses of the struggle – from black children being escorted into previously all-white schools to black leaders, like Martin Luther King Jr., being arrested, and demonstrators being doused by fire hoses to break up demonstrations to the march on Washington, D.C. in 1968 when Dr. King stood on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial and moved a nation with his words: “I have a dream that one day this nation will rise up and live out the true meaning of its creed; ‘We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal.’”

95. Associated Press

SARA AND HORACE BAKER IN THEIR HOME AFTER ROCK THROWING WRECKED THEIR WINDOWS, FOLCROFT, PENNSYLVANIA

August 31, 1963

As early as 1855 Frederick Douglass wrote about being “called upon to betake myself to the “Jim Crow Car” Over a hundred years later, the degrading documents of Jim Crowism and “separate-but-equal” persisted in many parts of the country, most entrenched in the South.

The civil rights movement exploded as legal systems forced change, and resistance to change died hard. Newspapers flashed a nation glimpses of the struggle – from black children being escorted into previously all-white schools to black leaders, like Martin Luther King Jr., being arrested, and demonstrators being doused by fire hoses to break up demonstrations to the march on Washington, D.C. in 1968 when Dr. King stood on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial and moved a nation with his words: “I have a dream that one day this nation will rise up and live out the true meaning of its creed; ‘We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal.’”

96. Bruce Davidson

VOLUNTEERING FOR "NON-VIOLENCE"

June 1961

As early as 1855 Frederick Douglass wrote about being “called upon to betake myself to the “Jim Crow Car” Over a hundred years later, the degrading documents of Jim Crowism and “separate-but-equal” persisted in many parts of the country, most entrenched in the South.

The civil rights movement exploded as legal systems forced change, and resistance to change died hard. Newspapers flashed a nation glimpses of the struggle – from black children being escorted into previously all-white schools to black leaders, like Martin Luther King Jr., being arrested, and demonstrators being doused by fire hoses to break up demonstrations to the march on Washington, D.C. in 1968 when Dr. King stood on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial and moved a nation with his words: “I have a dream that one day this nation will rise up and live out the true meaning of its creed; ‘We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal.’”

97. Bruce Davidson

FREEDOM RIDER

December 1967

As early as 1855 Frederick Douglass wrote about being “called upon to betake myself to the “Jim Crow Car” Over a hundred years later, the degrading documents of Jim Crowism and “separate-but-equal” persisted in many parts of the country, most entrenched in the South.

The civil rights movement exploded as legal systems forced change, and resistance to change died hard. Newspapers flashed a nation glimpses of the struggle – from black children being escorted into previously all-white schools to black leaders, like Martin Luther King Jr., being arrested, and demonstrators being doused by fire hoses to break up demonstrations to the march on Washington, D.C. in 1968 when Dr. King stood on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial and moved a nation with his words: “I have a dream that one day this nation will rise up and live out the true meaning of its creed; ‘We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal.’”

98. Associated Press

MARTIN LUTHER KING, JR., AND RALPH ABERNATHY BEING ARRESTED IN BIRMINGHAM, ALABAMA

April 12, 1963

As early as 1855 Frederick Douglass wrote about being “called upon to betake myself to the “Jim Crow Car” Over a hundred years later, the degrading documents of Jim Crowism and “separate-but-equal” persisted in many parts of the country, most entrenched in the South.

The civil rights movement exploded as legal systems forced change, and resistance to change died hard. Newspapers flashed a nation glimpses of the struggle – from black children being escorted into previously all-white schools to black leaders, like Martin Luther King Jr., being arrested, and demonstrators being doused by fire hoses to break up demonstrations to the march on Washington, D.C. in 1968 when Dr. King stood on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial and moved a nation with his words: “I have a dream that one day this nation will rise up and live out the true meaning of its creed; ‘We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal.’”

99. Associated Press

DEMONSTRATORS DOUSED IN ALABAMA

July 25, 1963

As early as 1855 Frederick Douglass wrote about being “called upon to betake myself to the “Jim Crow Car” Over a hundred years later, the degrading documents of Jim Crowism and “separate-but-equal” persisted in many parts of the country, most entrenched in the South.

The civil rights movement exploded as legal systems forced change, and resistance to change died hard. Newspapers flashed a nation glimpses of the struggle – from black children being escorted into previously all-white schools to black leaders, like Martin Luther King Jr., being arrested, and demonstrators being doused by fire hoses to break up demonstrations to the march on Washington, D.C. in 1968 when Dr. King stood on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial and moved a nation with his words: “I have a dream that one day this nation will rise up and live out the true meaning of its creed; ‘We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal.’”

100. Associated Press

MARCH ON WASHINGTON, D.C.

August 28, 1963

As early as 1855 Frederick Douglass wrote about being “called upon to betake myself to the “Jim Crow Car” Over a hundred years later, the degrading documents of Jim Crowism and “separate-but-equal” persisted in many parts of the country, most entrenched in the South.

The civil rights movement exploded as legal systems forced change, and resistance to change died hard. Newspapers flashed a nation glimpses of the struggle – from black children being escorted into previously all-white schools to black leaders, like Martin Luther King Jr., being arrested, and demonstrators being doused by fire hoses to break up demonstrations to the march on Washington, D.C. in 1968 when Dr. King stood on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial and moved a nation with his words: “I have a dream that one day this nation will rise up and live out the true meaning of its creed; ‘We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal.’”

101. Benedict J. Fernandez

MARTIN LUTHER KING, JR. IN CROWD

ca. 1965

Photographs from the early 1970s to 1980s, after the peak battles of the civil rights movement took place, show that life continues for African Americans – little changes in some areas, great strides in others – Southern prisons still filled with African Americans, urban children whiling away their time, vast numbers of African Americans fighting in Vietnam.

102. Associated Press

CORETTA KING AND RALPH ABERNATHY ONE MONTH AFTER MARTIN LUTHER KING, JR.'S DEATH

May 10, 1968

Photographs from the early 1970s to 1980s, after the peak battles of the civil rights movement took place, show that life continues for African Americans – little changes in some areas, great strides in others – Southern prisons still filled with African Americans, urban children whiling away their time, vast numbers of African Americans fighting in Vietnam.

103. Associated Press

YOUTHS RIOTING IN EAST NEW YORK, BROOKLYN

May 5, 1971

Photographs from the early 1970s to 1980s, after the peak battles of the civil rights movement took place, show that life continues for African Americans – little changes in some areas, great strides in others – Southern prisons still filled with African Americans, urban children whiling away their time, vast numbers of African Americans fighting in Vietnam.

104. Danny Lyon

PRISON YARD, TEXAS

1968

Photographs from the early 1970s to 1980s, after the peak battles of the civil rights movement took place, show that life continues for African Americans – little changes in some areas, great strides in others – Southern prisons still filled with African Americans, urban children whiling away their time, vast numbers of African Americans fighting in Vietnam.

105. Associated Press

VANGUARD ARRIVES, VIETNAM

June 25, 1971

Photographs from the early 1970s to 1980s, after the peak battles of the civil rights movement took place, show that life continues for African Americans – little changes in some areas, great strides in others – Southern prisons still filled with African Americans, urban children whiling away their time, vast numbers of African Americans fighting in Vietnam.

106. Milton Rogovin

APPALACHIA

1970

Photographs from the early 1970s to 1980s, after the peak battles of the civil rights movement took place, show that life continues for African Americans – little changes in some areas, great strides in others – Southern prisons still filled with African Americans, urban children whiling away their time, vast numbers of African Americans fighting in Vietnam.

107. David Hume Kennerly

MUHAMMAD ALI VS. JOE FRAZIER

March 8, 1971

Photographs from the early 1970s to 1980s, after the peak battles of the civil rights movement took place, show that life continues for African Americans – little changes in some areas, great strides in others – Southern prisons still filled with African Americans, urban children whiling away their time, vast numbers of African Americans fighting in Vietnam.

108. Associated Press

PEARL BAILEY AS AMERICAN DELEGATE TO THE UNITED NATIONS

November 26, 1975

Photographs from the early 1970s to 1980s, after the peak battles of the civil rights movement took place, show that life continues for African Americans – little changes in some areas, great strides in others – Southern prisons still filled with African Americans, urban children whiling away their time, vast numbers of African Americans fighting in Vietnam.

109. Nicholas Nixon

BOSTON COMMON

ca. 1980

Photographs from the early 1970s to 1980s, after the peak battles of the civil rights movement took place, show that life continues for African Americans – little changes in some areas, great strides in others – Southern prisons still filled with African Americans, urban children whiling away their time, vast numbers of African Americans fighting in Vietnam.

110. Reed Hoffmann

JESSE JACKSON CAMPAIGNING IN ROCHESTER FOR THE PRESIDENCY OF THE UNITED STATES

December 16, 1983

The exhibition ends on a most hopeful note. It is a portrait of the Reverend Jesse Jackson campaigning for the Presidency of the United States bringing the exhibition full circle, from a portrait of an anonymous minister to one of a famous minister reaching toward the highest honor in the country.