Documenting the Black Experience in Small Town Missouri: This exhibit explores the lives of African Americans in small towns. From schools to churches to homes, Blacks built their own community within the larger community. They had to, since they were often shut out by “whites only” attitudes and laws. With the Brown vs. Board of Education ruling in 1954 that mandated school desegregation and The Voting Rights Act of 1965, integration wended its way across the state, but the Black experience remains singular.
These images are selected from the archive of The Missouri Photo Workshop, which was founded in 1949 by Clifton Edom of the School of Journalism at the University of Missouri, MPW has recorded rural life for six decades. Over the years, more than 2000 photographers have documented 43 Missouri communities. The towns are a laboratory for photographers to hone their visual storytelling skills under the guidance of a demanding faculty, some of the nation’s top picture editors and photographers. It’s a rigorous week for the photographers, who are expected to follow Edom’s prescription for making meaningful pictures: intensive research, followed by intent observation and judicious timing.
Workshop photographers study lives of individuals, structure of families, issues of the day. By investing significant amounts of time getting to know their subjects and building a trusting relationship, photographers’ portrayals provide intimate insight and savor a slice of time. Often, an image transcends a single moment and represents a universal experience. Cumulatively, the photographs provide a visual record of Missouri’s small towns.
The Missouri Photo Workshop is sponsored by the Missouri School of Journalism, with educational grants from the Missouri Press Association Foundation and Nikon Professional Services. For more information, please visit our Web site at http://www.mophotoworkshop.org.