Captured: America in Color from 1939-1943

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Spleenrippa

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My brother sent me this link to some nifty material on the Denver Post website.

"These images, by photographers of the Farm Security Administration/Office of War Information, are some of the only color photographs taken of the effects of the Depression on America’s rural and small town populations. The photographs are the property of the Library of Congress and were included in a 2006 exhibit Bound for Glory: America in Color."

I don't think this has been posted yet, so here's the link!
Click Here!
 
Simply incredible. I love looking at old photographs. Such a different view of the world. All these photos were taken prior my own father being born.
 
Wonderful set of images. Thanks you very much for sharing these. :)

I've mentioned many time on various forums, but I'll say it here again. Try to get hold of BBC's "The Wonderful World of Albert Kahn". USA is covered in one of the episodes (not the entire ep though).
 
cool link and photos; in a different but similar vein, "Americans in Kodachrome" is one of my fave photo books, would encourage other to look it up if you like this thread
 
Vic said:
By apartheid today, I mean the way people live in villages, towns and cities. Most of them self-segregate themselves, there's no document saying that this is the way it is going to be. It's not just in the rural South that it happens, even though the South is unfairly maligned. Tom Wolfe, a famous American author, wrote a major article in the Esquire magazine some years ago, where he went listed all the major co-op (residential) buildings in Manhattan, and detailed how certain ethnic or religious people were not permitted to buy apartments there.
Click to expand...

I'm sure this happens, but it is still a generalization. I see all types hanging out together in NYC. Sure, there are ethnic neighborhoods, but no real segregation. The co-op thing? I've never personally seen it...and I work with many different ethnicities (in finance) that are in co-ops in NYC.
 
jsrockit said:
I'm sure this happens, but it is still a generalization. I see all types hanging out together in NYC. Sure, there are ethnic neighborhoods, but no real segregation. The co-op thing? I've never personally seen it...and I work with many different ethnicities (in finance) that are in co-ops in NYC.
Click to expand...

jsrockit, your point is that you personally have not seen segregation in NYC? With all due respect, so what? You have not seen "real" segregation? Let me take you to the South Bronx or to Harlem; I'll introduce you to some folks who would offer a somewhat different assessment. Or do those places not count because they are "ethnic neighborhoods." Personally, I see the Upper East Side and the West Village as "ethnic neighborhoods" and the South Bronx and Harlem as "normal" but that's neither here nor there.

As for Vic's characterization of the blog of FSA images, I would not call it "a great chronicle of the apartheid system that still exists today in many places." Speaking of generalities, I don't think that particular generality does justice to the sometimes blunt and sometimes subtle portrayal of issues of race in the FSA images. Nor to the very specific and vile system known as apartheid in South Africa. To be clear, the FSA photographers were appalled by the racism of this country and worked hard to illustrate it so the images could be used in the fight to eradicate it. Look at Gordon Parks' portraits of Ella Watson, very controversial images at the time.
http://memory.loc.gov/pnp/fsa/8b14000/8b14800/8b14845r.jpg
And yet the FSA collection also addressed other social problems such as drought, poverty and hunger, both in rural and (to a lesser degree) urban areas. Thus I think Vic's blanket statement is not really accurate.

I appreciate Vic's sensitivity to the race issues that are apparent in this collection of FSA images, but I see his characterization as somewhat superficial - I see the blog more as a selection of highlights of the FSA color photo collection which in turn chronicled quite accurately the American reality of the time. And it should be noted that the FSA color collection is a tiny fraction of the total FSA archive. I do agree with Vic that in our world issues of race are complex and prevasive.

For a selection of FSA images that deals directly with the issue of segregation in the US, check out this collection of images, hosted by the Library of Congress itself, Photographs of Signs Enforcing Racial Discrimination: Documentation by Farm Security Administration-Office of War Information Photographers

http://www.loc.gov/rr/print/list/085_disc.html

At least this sort of open discrimination is not longer permitted; discrimination is more subtle now, at least in the US.
 
Great color photographs of an era. This is a great discovery and thanks for the link. I think we are so lucky to have the photographs that the FSA commissioned during that time. The FSA photographers were amazing. I love looking at the photographs of Rothstein, Lang and Walker Evans and the others. - Jim
 
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