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From the Great Depression to World War II - photos from the American Memory collection


 DONNA LAFRAMBOISE  aka  TripodGirl
The American Memory collection contains more than 162,000 images taken between 1935 and 1944 by government-hired photographers. If you were to look at 100 of them per day, every day, you'd need more than four years to view them all. As a photographer, I consider these images nothing short of wondrous. This blog showcases some of them.

October 28, 2008

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

to locate this image on the American Memory website use search terms STREETCAR, WATER and COOLERA 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.

to locate this image on the American Memory website use search terms RESTAURANT, SIGN and OHIOA 1938 restaurant window in Ohio. (Ben Shahn)

to locate this image on the American Memory website use search terms CHILDREN, CONCRETE and WALL 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."

to locate this image on the American Memory website use search temrs FLAG, SIGN and DETROIT Feb. 1942 in Detroit. (Arthur S. Siegel)

to locate this image on the American Memory website, use search terms MILK, COMPANY and SIGN1941 Chicago. (John Vachon)

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[American Memory link]

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posted by TripodGirl | 6:00 AM

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