Call Number:

Ms. Coll. 1514

Repository:

University of Pennsylvania: Kislak Center for Special Collections, Rare Books and Manuscripts

Extent:

0.75 linear feet (1 box)

Language:

English

Preferred Citation:

Photograph album of a Black Kansas family, 1920s-1940s, Ms. Coll. 1514, Kislak Center for Special Collections, Rare Books and Manuscripts, University of Pennsylvannia.

Date:

1920s-1940s (inclusive)

Form:

Photograph albums

Abstract:

This depression-era photograph album of a Black Kansas family features fifty photographs of the family at work, home, and on the road in early 1930s Kansas.

The Great Depression was the longest and deepest downturn in the history of the United States and the modern industrial economy. It began in August 1929 when the economic expansion of the Roaring Twenties came to an end. After a series of financial crises, including a stock market crash in 1929, a series of regional banking panics, and a series of national and international financial crises, the commercial banking system collapsed. The problems of the Great Depression affected virtually every group of Americans. No group was harder hit than Black families. By 1932, approximately half of Black families were out of work.

Source:

"The Great Depression and the New Deal." National Archives at Seattle, https://www.archives.gov/seattle/exhibit/picturing-the-century/great-depression.html. Accessed 17 May 2023.

"Race Relations in the 1930s and 1940s." Library of Congress, https://www.loc.gov/classroom-materials/united-states-history-primary-source-timeline/great-depression-and-world-war-ii-1929-1945/race-relations-in-1930s-and-1940s/. Accessed 17 May 2023.

The Photograph album of a Black Kansas family features 50 images of a Black family at work, home, and on the road in early 1930s Kansas. Captions are sparse and limited to a few names; the license plate of the car featured in several of the travel images dates to the early years of the Great Depression. A few images feature "The Mint Cafe" which appears to have been operated by the family. Photographs comprise individual and group portraits, as well as images of a journey by car across the Plains, and depict a Black family's experience in the West during the depression.