Bronzeville: Black Chicago in Pictures, 1941-1943.by Maren Stange The New Press, May 2003 $39.95, ISBN ISBN abbr. International Standard Book Number ISBN International Standard Book Number ISBN n abbr (= International Standard Book Number) → ISBN m 1-565-84618-4 I am a near-sighted New Yorker. When you live in Harlem, the world-famous black Mecca, sometimes you forget that other big cities also boast a wealth of important African American experience. I was glad to open the pages of Bronzeville: Black Chicago in Pictures, 1941-1943, for a little enlightenment. The photographers Edwin Rosskam, Russell Lee, Jack Delano and John Vachon were hired by a New Deal federal government agency, the Farm Security Administration (FSA FSA Financial Services Authority FSA Food Standards Agency (UK) FSA Farm Service Agency (USDA) FSA Financial Services Agency (Japan) ), to document areas that were the destination of massive rural migration. From 1935 to 1943, these men captured a key period in African American history African American history is the portion of American history that specifically discusses the African American or Black American ethnic group in the United States. Most African Americans are the descendants of African slaves held in the United States from 1619 to 1865. . From these rich archives, Maren Stange has chosen more than 150 photographs of Chicago's South Side, a.k.a. Bronzeville. Bronzeville was put in the national spotlight after the great success of Richard Wright's Native Son, which was set on Chicago's South Side. During the 1940s, Chicago, not Harlem, was considered by many to be "the capital of Black America" It was home to boxer Joe Louis, Elijah Muhammad, the Nation of Islam Nation of Islam: see Black Muslims. Nation of Islam or Black Muslims African American religious movement that mingles elements of Islam and black nationalism. It was founded in 1931 by Wallace D. leader; gospel singer Mahalia Jackson; Ebony founder John H. Johnson John Harold Johnson (January 19, 1918 – August 8, 2005) was the founder of the Johnson Publishing Company, an international media and cosmetics empire headquartered in Chicago, Illinois that includes Ebony, and Jet ; and legendary newspaper editor John Sengstacke. The book presents many aspects of black Chicago life: It presents street scenes, people chatting on stoops, and the Ida B. Wells Ida B. Wells, also known as Ida B. Wells-Barnett (July 16, 1862 – March 25, 1931), was an African American civil rights advocate and an early women's rights advocate active in the Woman Suffrage Movement. housing project. We meet a junk-cart peddler peddler or hawker, itinerant vendor of small goods. In rural America peddlers carried their packs or drove a horse and cart from door to door. , cabaret dancers in their skimpy glory, people shopping for shoes, doctors attending to patients, Pullman porters and barbers, all hard at work. We also see Chicagoans at the movies, getting happy at taverns, listening to music and visiting art exhibitions and poetry circles at the South Side Community Arts Center. Stange has chosen pictures that truly captured black Chicago life in the 1940s. Original essays with stiff titles such as "Recent Immigrations" and "Negro Business in Chicago" accompany the photos and remind us that this was a project of the federal government intended to document, record and publicize living conditions. Richard Wright's essay "Aspects of the Black Belt" is one of the elements that enriches Bronzeville. While some of the images have a somewhat studied feel to them, many are works of art and all beautifully capture a moment in time of one America's great cities. |
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