Synopses & Reviews
This special picture book offers a window into the African American community of Columbia, South Carolina, during the early twentieth century. While the town is specific, the themes and photographs are universal--weddings and funerals, teachers and preachers, sassy cars and baseball teams, and, of course, families of all sizes. More than half a century later, Richard Samuel Roberts's photographs and Dinah Johnson's lyrical text come together to illustrate the pride, joy, and strength of a bustling community.
Review
"A moving album, combining a quiet, questioning text with sepia-toned photographs. A means for readers to travel into the past.... Text and photographs work a special magic to make the past feel new." --
Kirkus Reviews, pointer
About the Author
Dinah Johnson is a professor of English at the University of South Carolina, and the editor of
The Best of the Brownies' Book. She lives in Columbia, South Carolina, with her family.
Richard Samuel Roberts (1880-1936), a self-taught photographer, documented in pictures the rich lives of the African American citizens of Columbia, South Carolina during the 1920s and 1930s.