Telecommunication

A telephone, with a telephone book. Iowa, 1940.

Oh, for the good old days - in which one bent over, speaking into the microphone as best one could, while holding the other part to one's ear.

Awesome how much things have changed during the past 69 years.

Photo by John Vachon.

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[American Memory link]

Come and Gone

A telephone operator in 1941 Maryland. Yes, Virginia, a live human needed to physically connect your call, moving those cables from one place to another.

Photo by John Vachon.

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[American Memory link]

Newly Born

A newborn lamb, standing on his own four legs for the first time.

Montana, 1942. Photo by John Vachon.
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[American Memory link]

to locate this image, use search terms: five, minute, lamb

Frogs

An unusual distinction.

Photo taken by John Vachon near Boonsboro, Maryland - in 1939.

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[American Memory link]

to locate this image, use search terms: sign, Boonsboro, Maryland

Long Life Butter

Land O'Lakes butter in 1941. Sixty-seven years later, this product's packaging has changed little.

Photo by John Vachon at a butter packing plant in Chicago.

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[American Memory link]

to locate this image, use search terms: butter, land, lakes

Neighbors

Chatting over the back fence in Laurium, Michigan.

Photo taken by John Vachon in 1941.

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[American Memory link]

to locate this image, use search terms: back, fence, copper

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 (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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[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]