Harlem Document: Photographs, 1932-1940

Aaron Siskind, then part of the Photo League, and the writer Michael Carter started a project in 1932 documenting life in Harlem. They worked on it for three years and put a book proposal together but it was never published. In 1939, as part of the Federal Writers Project of the WPA, Ralph Ellison recorded the oral histories of many residents of Harlem. Later, in 1940, Siskind, Carter and Max Yavno again attempted to bring the reality of life in that section of New York City to a broad audience. The war brought the project to a halt. This book presents photographs from Siskind's two projects with Ellison's oral histories of nine individuals living in Harlem at the time. Photographs by Aaron Siskind; foreword by Gordon Parks; text from the Federal Writers Project, edited by Ann Banks. 80 pages; 53 duo-toned b&w photos; 8.25 x 8 inches.