Halloween Party

(photo by Dorothea Lange )

Youngsters at the Shafter, California migrant camp, 1938.

During the Great Depression, people lost their land or their jobs as tenant farmers. Drought, sand storms, and soil erosion (aka the Dust Bowl) added to their misery.

In search of a better life, farming families relocated to California by the thousands, often sheltering in makeshift conditions that raised public health concerns.

In response, the US government established a network of migrant camps that provided assistance and a sense of community. Other photos from this event show the children lining up for refreshments - in the form of sandwiches and punch. (Notice the cups a few of them are holding. This was a bring-your-own event.)

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[American Memory link]
to locate this image, use search terms: halloween, party, shafter

From Racial Segregation to the Oval Office (3 of 3)

[see Part 1 here] ... [see Part 2 here]

Intelligence. Talent. Hard work. Generations of African-Americans have helped make the US the nation it is today.

A truck driver, photographed in North Carolina in 1943. (John Vachon)

A shipyard worker with his daughter in 1942 Virginia. (Pat Terry)

Howard P. Parry, the first African-American to enlist in the U.S. Marine Corps. (Roger Smith)

Jane Bolin, the first African-American female judge.

Richard Wright, poet, photographed in his study in 1943. (Gordon Parks)

(photo by Roger Smith)

During World War II, these men were employed at a coast guard training center. They all taught boxing and, presumably, took turns being referee.

If this is the moment in which an African-American first assumes the presidency of the United States, may his judgment be sound and his decisions fair.

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[American Memory link]

From Racial Segregation to the Oval Office (2 of 3)

[see Part 1 here]

America in the '30s and '40s had many racially-segregated hearts and neighborhoods. But other forces were also at work.

On Chicago's South Side in 1941, youngsters of different hues kept company. (Russell Lee)

In 1936 Mississippi, as children of tenant farmers (aka sharecroppers), their fortunes were entwined. (Dorothea Lange)

In 1939 they worked shoulder-to-shoulder as shoeshine boys in Texas. (Russell Lee)

Meanwhile, their mothers, aunts, and elder sisters built aircraft together in California during World War II. (These women are identified as Vivian King and Kathryn Polinaire.)

Their fathers, uncles, and older brothers worked in tandem to construct warships such as the Booker T. Washington. (A photo caption explains this was the "first liberty ship named for a Negro." The man on the left is experienced welder Jessie Lucas. The one on the right is apprentice Rodney Chesney.) (Alfred T. Palmer)

When a women's organization refused to allow African-American opera singer Marian Anderson to perform in its concert hall in 1939, thousands of its members resigned - including the First Lady, Eleanor Roosevelt. With assistance from the Roosevelts, Ms. Anderson later delivered a free, open-air concert to a racially-diverse crowd of 75,000.

In the 1942 photo above, the singer christens the Booker T. Washington. (Alfred T. Palmer)

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[Part 3] ... [American Memory link]

From Racial Segregation to the Oval Office (1 of 3)

A streetcar terminal in Oklahoma, 1939. (Russell Lee)

The United States appears poised to elect its first president of African-American descent. To appreciate the magnitude of this event, let's time-travel back to the 1930s and '40s, courtesy of photos from the American Memory collection.

A 1938 restaurant window in Ohio. (Ben Shahn)

This half-mile long concrete wall was erected in Detroit, Michigan in 1941. Photographer John Vachon explains its purpose was "to separate the Negro section from a white housing development going up on the other side."

Feb. 1942 in Detroit. (Arthur S. Siegel)

1941 Chicago. (John Vachon)

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[Part 2] ... [Part 3] ... [American Memory link]

Fettered Fox

Not something one sees every day. As the photo caption explains, this is a "Fox chained to [an] automobile."

Taken in Moorehead, Minnesota in Oct. 1940. The apparent water dish adds complexity to the scene.

(photographer: John Vachon)

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[American Memory link]

Cutie Pie

This unidentified young man - a newsboy in Harlem - was photographed in May or June of 1943. His cheery innocence is heightened by the scarred sign and peeling paint behind him.

(photographer: Gordon Parks)

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[American Memory link]

to locate this image, use search terms: Harlem, newsboy

Mortgage Meltdown

News from the financial markets has been grim recently. This photo, taken in Jan. 1939, recalls the Great Depression. The caption supplied by photographer Arthur Rothstein is of particular interest:

"A shanty built of refuse near the Sunnyside slack pile, Herrin, Illinois. Many residences in southern Illinois coal towns were built with money borrowed from building and loan associations. During the depression building and loan associations almost all went into receivership. Their mortgages were sold for whatever they would bring, and the purchasers demolished houses by the hundreds in order to salvage the scrap lumber.

"The result is serious overcrowding and high rents in all the coal towns. A number of people can find no houses to rent, and are living in tents and shanties on the fringes of the town."

That this website is currently auctioning foreclosed American homes with starting bids as low as $1,000 is a chilling echo of those times.

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[American Memory link]

to locate this image, use search terms: shanty, mortgage

Rita Hayworth

Five photos of this big-screen beauty queen are included in the collection. The first is pure glamor. The other four involve stockings (the sort held up with garters).

Taken in 1941. (photographer not identified)

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[American Memory link]
to locate this image, use search terms: Rita, Hayworth

Arms Inspector

Identified as 21-year-old Bertha Stallworth, this young woman inspected artillery cartridges as part of her job. Hundreds of similar photos in this collection show women performing non-traditional tasks while men served in the armed forces during World War II.

Taken in Frankfort, Kentucky in Jan. 1943.

(photographer: Howard R. Hollem)

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[American Memory link]

to locate this image, use search terms: Bertha, Kentucky

Complete Meal

Taken in Crowley, Louisiana in October 1938.

(photographer: Russell Lee)

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[American Memory link]
to locate this image, use search terms: sign, crowley

Nap Time

The collection contains hundreds of photos taken in nursery schools/day care centers from one end of America to the other. Some of the loveliest images record the quietest moments.


The above three images are from an Arizona nursery school. They were taken by Russell Lee, in April 1940.

Belle Glade, Florida. Feb. 1941. (Taken by Marion Post Wolcott)


Woodville, California. March 1942. (Russell Lee)


The above photo was taken in Feb. 1942, in Harlingen, Texas, by Arthur Rothstein. During the same month he shot these final three in Sinton, Texas:






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[American Memory link]
to locate images such as these use search terms: nursery, nap

Seed Ladies

I love this shot, of women employed by the W. Atlee Burpee Company, purveyors of seeds and bulbs. More than a hundred photos of the company's internal Philadelphia operations were taken in April 1943.

Photographer Arthur S. Siegel's caption for this image reads: "Women with a typical display rack of Burpee seeds."

Other photos in the series show women such as these eating lunch, testing seeds, filling orders, and keeping accounts. One photo illustrates the point that, "Due to the war, the janitor is a girl..."

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[American Memory link]

Train Brakeman

A railway brakeman standing atop a train in March 1943. The caption for this photo says it was taken near Cajon, California.

Explains photographer Jack Delano: "Brakemen ride the trains in this way during the entire descent from Summit to San Bernardino."

One wonders what today's health and safety authorities would say about such a practice :-)

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[American Memory link]
to locate this image, use search terms: swing, brakeman, cajon

Kitchen Scene

The caption accompanying this photo reads: "Kitchen utensils in a Blue Ridge Mountain home. Virginia."

Taken by Arthur Rothstein in 1935, there's dignity in this photo - and a stark beauty. Nevertheless, the image is too gritty to qualify as contemporary "country kitchen chic."

For all the nostalgia we feel about those who led simpler lives in bygone eras, this photo makes it clear that such lives were frequently materially impoverished.

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[American Memory link]

to locate this image, use search terms: kitchen, utensils, Virginia

Duke Ellington

In April 1943, jazz/big band great Duke Ellington and his orchestra performed at the Hurricane Club ballroom in New York city. Seventy-two photos taken that evening are part of the American Memory collection. They begin here with a shot of Ellington descending from the ceiling.

In addition to photos of the musicians, photographer Gordon Parks [see an American Memory photo of him here] also took pictures of the audience, and of people working at the venue: chorus girls, a lighting technician, the head waiter, the chef, and the manager among them.


Ellington eating dinner. The caption associated with this photo identifies the woman as his wife, Beatrice Ellington.


Chatting with members of his orchestra.


Horns.


One of my favorite shots. This gentleman is identified as the 2nd cook at the venue.


A fun shot of the telephone booths at the Hurricane.

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[American Memory link]

Treasure Trove

Oh, my. Having recently learned that this awesome collection is available online, I'm smitten.

At the moment, its interface is neither pretty nor user-friendly. And, on any given day, one is likely to be advised that a previously bookmarked image is temporarily unavailable from the server.

But poke around a little and you'll discover amazing things. Poignant shots of ordinary people going about their lives. Breathtaking scenery. Vintage cars. Retro fashions.

At a time in which America was experiencing heartache and turmoil, in which its resources were strained and its cares many, visionary individuals in the US government nevertheless dispatched photographers far and wide. The American Memory collection is the result.

It is a gift. It is a time-capsule of stupendous depth and breadth. And, thanks to the power of the Internet, it is now available to all of us.

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[American Memory link]