Chicago's South Side, 1946-1948 (Series in Contemporary Photography, 1) (Hardcover)

by Wayne F. Miller (Author) "was born a black boy inside a black world. So, like moments rising out of my unfathomed past, many of Wayne Miller's images slice through..." (more)
Key Phrases: community house, South Side, Wayne Miller, World War

Editorial Reviews

From Booklist
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 novel Native Son, the play A Raisin in the Sun, and the sociological work Black Metropolis. Vanessa Bush
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

Review
"A long-overdue contribution to the photographic literature of the period known as the Great Migration." -- Chicago Tribune

"Miller's ability to fade into the background as he captures real life is consummate." -- Columbus Dispatch

"Miller's beautifully composed, intimate pictures are finally collected...intense glimpses of a bygone era." -- Travel & Leisure magazine

"Miller's pictures . . . have . . . the unforced, uncontrived beauty of people who are largely unaware of how beautiful they are." -- Feature in Nova magazine, UK

"Miller's work is intimate but never presumptuous." -- New York Times Book Review

"These pictures . . . capture the emotions and intimacy of everyday life . . . as blacks flooded into postwar Chicago." -- Chicago Tribune

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Hardcover: 127 pages
• Publisher: University of California Press; 1 edition (September 28, 2000)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0520223160
• ISBN-13: 978-0520223165
• Product Dimensions: 11.1 x 10.3 x 0.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 2.4 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars See all reviews (6 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #109,147 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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  #14 in	Books > Arts & Photography > History & Criticism > Regional > African American
  #24 in	Books > History > United States > State & Local > Midwest
  #39 in	Books > Arts & Photography > Photography > History

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A Unique Historical and Photographic Record, September 24, 2000

By	Ed J. Zastrow "zip" (Iowa City, IA USA) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

Chicago fascinates me, and this is a unique photographic record of a very special period in Chicago's history. Blacks were migrating from the South to Chicago in the hope of finding a better life in the post-war North. Wayne Miller captures ordinary life in this remarkable glimpse into Chicago's South Side. The photos are the sort that you continue studying, noticing increasing detail. Despite the intense racism, the South Side somehow held the prospect of a better tomorrow. I'm delighted Wayne Miller's photos of this important neighborhood made it into print.

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Brilliant, passionate photography, October 16, 2000

By	Paul Stamler "musician" (St. Louis, MO U.S.A.) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

This is one of the best photographic books I've seen -- ever. Wayne Miller manages to make personal contact with the human beings who lived on Chicago's South Side in a way that few photographers have ever matched. The warmth and complexity of these photographs, the compassion and human understanding involved, are most remarkable -- especially since the photographer stood on the other side of America's terrible racial divide from his subjects. Anyone who loves classic documentary photography, or who simply loves human beings in their complexity, should order this book.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Shocking and Intimate, November 27, 2001

By	Phoebus Franca "thebuffer" (San Francisco Bay Area, CA USA) - See all my reviews

This book is a treasure. I wish I could find more by this photographer (my searches have come up empty). The photographs take you right inside each scene, and often pack a powerful punch of sadness, joy, intimacy, life. The printing quality is excellent. If the publisher can collect more of his work, I will be the first customer.