12 Million Black Voices

Originally published in 1941, 12 Million Black Voices pairs Richard Wright’s beautiful prose with stunning photographs from the Farm Security Administration’s files from the Great Depression. The images, curated by Edwin Rosskam, include photographs shot by legendary American artists like Walker Evans, Dorothea Lange, and Arthur Rothstein, adding a visual dimension to Wright’s incisive commentary on the origins and history of black oppression in America. 

From dusty rural villages to northern ghettos, 12 Million Black Voices is an unflinching portrayal of the lives that many black Americans lived in the 1930s. Depicting remarkable spiritual fortitude and resilience in the face of crushing poverty and hostile government policies, 12 Million Black Voices is a testament to the strength of black communities, giving voices and faces to a population that is too often invisible in the annals of American history.