Signs of Discrimination: Photographs from the Library of Congress FSA Collections

JF Ptak Science Books  Quick Post

All of the photographic material below comes from the U.S. Library of Congress website for its prints and photographs division, and is a very small sample of what is offered from its online holdings of Farm Security Administration/Office of War Information (FSA and OWI) photographs. It is not ancient history--most of the images are 75 years old or so, a part of our near-past which still shadows our near-future.

"Photographers working for the Farm Security Administration Historical Section (later transferred to the Office of War Information) were encouraged to document continuity and change in many aspects of life in America during the years the unit was in operation. They were particularly encouraged to photograph billboards and signs as one indicator of such developments. Although no documentation has been found to indicate that photographers were explicitly encouraged to photograph racial discrimination signs, the collection includes a significant number of this type of image, which is rarely found in other Prints and Photographs Division collections."

On of the great innovations in a sea of great things accomplished during the Franklin Roosevelt administrations was the formation of the FSA, a division of the government established to help farmers through the devastating Dust Bowl and Great Depression.  A subset of the FSA was a photographic unit which was set up to document the progress made by the FSA (and provide, I am sure, for some much-needed good news, a hearts-and-minds campaign).  This division was headed by Roy Emerson Stryker, who wound up hiring a collection of dream-team photographers unlike any ever assembled for a single purpose.  Esther Bubley, Marjory Collins, Mary Post Wolcott, Arthur Rothstein, Walker Evans, Russell Lee, Jack Delano, Gordon Parks, Charlotte Brooks, John Vachon, Carl Mydans, Dorothea Lange and Ben Shahn were sent out all across the country and wound up with the greatest and most beautiful photographic history ever assembled.  There were about 77,000 images made, and I recall reading (somewhere) that the total budget for the Stryker group for the years 1936-19421 was about $100,000, meaning that each completed image cost just over a dollar apiece.

1) Bethlehem-Fairield shipyards, Baltimore, Maryland. May 1943. Arthur Siegel, photographer. "A drinking fountain." [Sign: "White."] Location: D-90666 Reproduction Number: LC-USW3-26442-E [view catalog record]	1
2) Memphis, Tennessee. October 1939. Marion Post Wolcott, photographer. "Secondhand clothing stores and pawn shop on Beale Street." [Sign: "Hotel Clark, The Best Service for Colored Only."] Location: E-2185 Reproduction Number: LC-USF33-30637-M3 [view catalog record]	2
3) Durham, North Carolina. May 1940. Jack Delano, photographer. "A street scene near the bus station." Location: E-255 Reproduction Number: LC-USF33-20522-M5 [view catalog record]	3
4) Durham, North Carolina. May 1940. Jack Delano, photographer. "At the bus station." Location: E-5153 Reproduction Number: LC-USF33-20522-M2 [view catalog record]	4

 

12) On the way from Louisville, Kentucky to Nashville, Tennessee. September 1943. Esther Bubley, photographer. " A rest stop for Greyhound bus passengers on the way from Louisville, Kentucky to Nashville, Tennessee, with separate accommodations for colored passengers." [Sign: "Colored Dining Room in Rear."] Location: E-5153 Reproduction Number: LC-USZ62-62919 [view catalog record]	12
13) Rome, Georgia. September 1943. Esther Bubley, photographer. "A sign at the Greyhound bus station." [Sign: "Colored Waiting Room."] Location: E-5153 Reproduction Number: LC-USZ62-75338 [view catalog record]	13
14) Manchester, Georgia. May 1938. John Vachon, photographer. "A railroad station." [Signs: "Colored Waiting Room" and "Colored Men."] Location: E-5203 Reproduction Number: LC-USF33-1172-M4 [view catalog record]	14
15) South Carolina. June 1939. Marion Post Wolcott, photographer. "A highway sign advertising tourist cabins for Negroes." [Sign: "Cabins for Colored."] Location: E-527 Reproduction Number: LC-USF34-51945-D [view catalog record]	15
16) Memphis, Tennessee. June 1937. Dorothea Lange, photographer. "A fish restaurant for Negroes in the section of the city where cotton hoers are recruited." [Sign: "Bryant's Place Hot Fish for Colored."] Location: E-9063 Reproduction Number: LC-USF34-17593-E [view catalog record]	16
17) Durham, North Carolina. May 1940. Jack Delano, photographer. "A cafe near the tobacco market." [Signs: Separate doors for "White" and for "Colored."] Location: E-9064 Reproduction Number: LC-USF33-20513-M2 [view catalog record]	17
18) Durham, North Carolina. November 1939. Marion Post Wolcott, photographer. "A cafe in the warehouse district during tobacco auction season." [Sign: Separate door for "White."] (This is the same building and sign as in #18.) Location: E-9064 Reproduction Number: LC-USF33-30700-M1 [view catalog record]	18
19) Belle Glade (vicinity), Florida. January 1939. Marion Post Wolcott, photographer. "A lunch room." [Sign: "White & Colored Served."] Location: E-9064 Reproduction Number: LC-USF34-50500-D [view catalog record]	19
20) Halifax, North Carolina. April 1938. John Vachon, photographer. "A drinking fountain on the county courthouse lawn." [Sign: "Colored."] Location: E-90666 Reproduction Number: LC-USZ62-100414 [view catalog record]	20
21) Belzoni, Mississippi, in the delta area. October 1939. Marion Post Wolcott, photographer. "Negro man entering movie theater by "Colored" entrance." [Signs: "Colored--Adm." and "White Men Only."] Location: E-915 Reproduction Number: LC-USF33-30577-M2 [view catalog record]	21
22) Leland, Mississippi, in the Delta area. June 1937. Dorothea Lange, photographer. "The Rex theater for colored people." [Sign: Rex Theater for Colored People."] Location: E-915 Reproduction Number: LC-USF34-17417 [view catalog record]	22
23) Leland, Mississippi, in the delta area. November 1939. Marion Post Wolcott, photographer. "The Rex theater for Negro People." [Sign: "Rex Theater for Colored People."] (This is the same building and sign as in #23.) Location: E-915 Reproduction Number: LC-USF34-52508-D [view catalog record]	23
24) Lancaster, Ohio. August 1938. Ben Shahn, photographer. "Sign on a restaurant." [Sign: "We Cater to White Trade only."] Location: F-9063 Reproduction Number: LC-USF33-6392-M4 [view catalog record]	24
25) Sisseton, South Dakota. September 1939. John Vachon, photographer. "Sign in a beer parlor window." [Sign: "No Beer sold to Indians."] Location: G-9067 Reproduction Number: LC-USF33-1661-M3 [view catalog record]	25
26) Birney, Montana. August 1941. Marion Post Wolcott, photographer. "People who came to Saturday night dance around the bar." [Sign: "Positively no beer sold to Indians."] Location: G-9067 Reproduction Number: LC-USF34-58491-D [view catalog record]	26
27) Birney, Montana. August 1941. Marion Post Wolcott, photographer. "Signs behind the bar." [Sign:"Positively no beer sold to Indians."] (This is the same sign as in #27.) Location: G-9067 Reproduction Number: LC-USF34-58504-D [view catalog record]	27
28) Oklahoma City, Oklahoma. July 1939. Russell Lee, photographer. "Man drinking at a water cooler in the street car terminal." [Sign: "Reserved for Colored."] Location: H-90666 Reproduction Number: LC-USZ62-80126 [view catalog record]	28
29) Waco, Texas. November 1939. Russell Lee, photographer. "Sign above moving picture theater." [Sign: "The Gem Theatre Exclusive Colored Theatre."] Location: H-915 Reproduction Number: LC-USF33-12498-M2 [view catalog record]	29
30) Memphis, Tennessee. October 1939(?) Marion Post Wolcott, photographer. "Beale Street, Memphis, Tennessee." [Sign: "Rex Billiard Hall for Colored."] Location: E-936 Reproduction Number: LC-USF33-30639-M1 [view catalog record]	30