Separate, But Equal: The Mississippi Photographs of Henry Clay Anderson

An extraordinary treasure: Rediscovered photographs document a proud community of middle-class Southern blacks at the dawn of the civil rights movement. . Henry Clay Anderson established Anderson Photo Service in Greenville, Mississippi in 1948. Throughout the 50s and 60s, he photographed this relatively prosperous black community, recording the daily lives of the men and women who built the schools, churches, and hospitals that served their segregated society. He photographed family gatherings, weddings, funerals, and events at the high school. He photographed nightclub musicians, itinerant entertainers, and a wide range of professionals at work. His mission had strong political overtones. But this rich archive of photographs would have been destroyed and forgotten had it not been for Shawn Wilson, a young filmmaker, whose search for his own family photographs led him to Anderson's studio. The 95 photographs contained in this book are art objects, but they are also historical documents. In his accompanying essay, writer Clifton Taulbert guides us through them, recalling his own memories of Greenville. The book also contains an interview with the late photographer and an essay on the political climate at the time. Together, these materials create a window into a world that has been overlooked in the aftermath of the civil rights movement-a community of prosperous, optimistic black Southerners who considered themselves first-class Americans despite living in a deeply segregated world.