Chicago's South Side, 1946-1948
After working as a combat photographer during World War II, Miller wanted a project that would document universal truths about humans and chose to photograph the lives of Chicago's black migrants from the rural South who'd come to the industrial North, lured by the promise of jobs. They came to populate the city's Black Belt in Chicago's industrial heyday and the height of racial segregation. Miller offers powerful images of close and cramped lives in tenements but conveys the vitality and energy of a people in search of a better life. The subjects are mostly ordinary people in pool halls, in churches, at work, and in tiny kitchenettes, living lives of poverty, struggle, want, and passion. Miller, a white photographer, was able to overcome mistrust with introductions from black journalists and photographers and his own ability to convey his desire to document the lives of his subjects. This is a remarkable and vivid recollection of a time and place that was the setting of the novelNative Son, the playARaisin in the Sun, and the sociological workBlack Metropolis.Vanessa BushCopyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved