12 Million Black Voices

Originally published in 1948 12 Million Black Voices pairs Richard Wrights beautiful prose with stunning photographs from the Farm Security Administrations 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 Wrights 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. (review blurbs)Among all the works of Richard Wright 12 Million Black Voices stands out as a work of poetry of passion of lyricism and of love --David BradleyShort text and picture folk history of the Black American in which the author of Native Son writes a burning commentary on three centuries of slavery persecution and want...Edwin Rosskam the photographic editor reinforces the text with superb photographs --The New YorkerA more eloquent statement of its kind could hardly have been devised... flawless prose that takes on at times the quality of a folksong --The New York Times Book Review