New photography by Ed Pollard captured with a digital camera-2006.

View of Negro Life in the Negro Section, Newport News, Virginia

Artist Paul Schermerhorn Carter (American, 1903 - 1938)

CultureAmerican

DateSeptember 1936

MediumGelatin silver print

DimensionsOverall, Image: 6 5/16 × 9 1/2 in. (16 × 24.1 cm)
Overall, Support: 8 × 10 in. (20.3 × 25.4 cm)
Overall, Mat: 20 × 16 in. (50.8 × 40.6 cm)

Credit LineMuseum purchase

Object number85.1.2

On View

Not on view

DescriptionThis is one of a series of gelatin silver prints; FSA photographs in Virginia.

Label TextPaul Carter American, 1903–1938 top View of Negro Life in the Negro Section, Newport News, Virginia, September 1936 Gelatin silver print (photograph), printed 1985 bottom Paul Carter American, 1903–1938 Market in the Negro Section, Newport News, Virginia, September 1936 Gelatin silver print (photograph), printed 1984 While FSA photographers recorded everyday American life, their work also served to stimulate support for federal relief efforts during the Depression. Hundreds of FSA exhibitions were held in schools, churches, libraries, and department stores, and the images appeared in newspapers and magazines nationwide. Pairs of photographic images often suggested alternatives—“this or that” or “then and now”—to emphasize the benefits of federal policies and motivate people toward accepting them. Thus, when Program Director Roy Stryker instructed the photographers to “emphasize the idea of abundance—the ‘horn of plenty’—and pour maple syrup over it,” he hoped the resulting images would sway public opinion about the New Deal’s success. Chrysler Museum purchase 85.1.2, 84.78.29 Exhibition History"Mountaineers to Main Streets: The Old Dominion as seen through the Farm Security Administration Photographs," Large Changing Gallery, Chrysler Museum of Art, May 3 - June 16, 1985. "Reckonings and Reconstructions: Southern Photography from the Do Good Fund," Chrysler Museum of Art, August 11, 2023 - November 5, 2023.Published ReferencesBrooks Johnson, _Mountaineers to Main Streets: The Old Dominion as seen through the Farm Security Administration Photographs_. Norfolk, VA: The Chrysler Museum, 1985, ill. p. 43. John V. Quarstein and Parke S. Rouse, _Newport News: A Centennial History_ (Newport News, VA: City of Newport News, 1996), ill. p. 123.