Short-Form Text

Striking Black and White Photos Capture the Black Experience in 1940s South Side Chicago

Children playing “ring around the rosie” in one of the more affluent neighborhoods of the Black Belt of Chicago, Illinois, in 1941 Photo by: Edwin Rosskam, Farm Security Administration, courtesy of Library of Congress

Edwin Rosskam, Library of Congress

Text Type

Photo Essay

Words

1512

Lexile

1070L

Published

1941

In the Great Migration (from roughly 1910 to 1970), millions of Black Americans, many of whom lived in the rural American South, permanently relocated to cities to the north and west. These individuals had many reasons for leaving their homes. They were spurred in large part by a desire to seek opportunities in locations not governed by oppressive Jim Crow laws and the social structures that upheld them. They established lives and created communities in new cities, enriching and changing the American landscape.

The “Black Belt” was an area on the South Side of Chicago, Illinois. Many Black Americans from the South moved there during the decades of the Great Migration. Housing covenants were rules or even deeds on houses that effectively segregated Black Americans into this area. This part of the South Side grew over time and was also referred to by other names, including Bronzeville.

A black and white photo taken in 1941 showing several Black children and one adult woman standing outside an apartment building with a sign advertising “Pomeranian Apartments 1-2-3 Room Furnished Apts. Gas and Light Free” — Fig. 2 Photo by: Edwin Rosskam, courtesy of Library of Congress

A black and white photo taken in 1941 showing several smartly dressed young black men, none looking right at the camera, standing on a wide city sidewalk with brick buildings and vehicles in the background — Fig. 3 Photo by: Edwin Rosskam, courtesy of Library of Congress

A black and white portrait photo taken in 1941 of a Black boy wearing a suit, tie and a large newsboy-style hat. He is leaning on the back of a car — Fig. 4 Photo by: Edwin Rosskam, courtesy of Library of Congress

A black and white photo taken in 1941 of a Black woman wearing a daydress and a long white apron. She stands at the top of a wooden staircase in the second story doorway of a brick building. — Fig. 5 Photo by: Edwin Rosskam, courtesy of Library of Congress

A black and white photo taken in 1941 showing several Black children sitting and standing on and around the front stoop of a brick building on a city street — Fig. 6 Photo by: Edwin Rosskam, courtesy of Library of Congress

A black and white photo taken in 1941 showing Black children playing jump rope together on the sidewalk in front of a brick building. One girl is jumping, two children are swinging the rope, and several others watch. Two of the girls are smiling at the camera. — Fig. 7 Photo by: Edwin Rosskam, courtesy of Library of Congress

A black and white photo taken in 1941 showing over a dozen Black men and women on a city sidewalk in front of a large brick building. The men wear suits and hats. The women wear dresses, heels and hats, and one wears a fur stole. Most are smiling. — Fig. 8 Photo by: Edwin Rosskam, courtesy of Library of Congress

A black and white photo taken in 1941 showing nearly 20 Black children in line for a movie theatre. The boys wear suits, hats and dress shoes, and the girls wear suits or dresses, saddle shoes or heels, and hats. — Fig. 9 Photo by: Edwin Rosskam, courtesy of Library of Congress

A black and white photo taken in 1941 showing five Black men on the edge of a wide city street, some leaning on a wheeled wooden cart. The men are dressed in work clothes and hats and two of them have glanced at the camera. — Fig. 10 Photo by: Edwin Rosskam, courtesy of Library of Congress

A black and white portrait photo taken in 1941 of a young Black man, seated in front of an exterior wall. He has one hand on his hip and leans on his leg with his other arm. He looks at the camera and is wearing a suit, vest and large newsboy-style hat. — Fig.11 Photo by: Edwin Rosskam, courtesy of Library of Congress

A black and white photo taken in 1941 showing four middle-aged Black men facing into the sun while three are perched on the outside windowsill of a restaurant and the fourth leans on the wall next to them. The word “spaghetti” is painted on the wall underneath the window and is visible through their legs. — Fig. 12 Photo by: Edwin Rosskam, courtesy of Library of Congress

A black and white photo taken in 1941 showing what appears to be a Black couple. They are sitting on the front stoop of a building and he is holding a toddler. The man has a big smile but the woman’s expression is more guarded. — Fig. 13 Photo by: Edwin Rosskam, courtesy of Library of Congress

A black and white photo taken in 1941 of five Black boys and one adult man. They stand in a circle and the man is shooting marbles while the boys watch intently. — Fig. 14 Photo by: Edwin Rosskam, courtesy of Library of Congress

A black and white photo taken in 1941 of three Black boys outside a shop on a city street. The boy in the middle sits on a crate while the other two peer over his shoulder at the magazine he is reading. — Fig. 15 Photo by: Edwin Rosskam, courtesy of Library of Congress

A black and white photo taken in 1941 showing a Black woman standing in the doorway of a brick building. She holds the back of a wooden chair that is in front of her. She is wearing a long skirt, a partially buttoned sweater, glasses and is not smiling. — Fig. 16 Photo by: Edwin Rosskam, courtesy of Library of Congress

A black and white photo taken in 1941 showing the head and torso of a Black boy looking at the camera. He wears a suit jacket and hat and in the blurry background is a city street of brick apartment buildings. — Fig. 17 Photo by: Edwin Rosskam, courtesy of Library of Congress

A black and white photo taken in 1941 showing a row of stone apartment buildings. Each one has a set of large stone entrance stairs with decorative handrails. A few people are scattered across the stair landings and one woman stares directly at the camera. — Fig. 18 Photo by: Edwin Rosskam, courtesy of Library of Congress

A black and white photo taken in 1941 showing a handful of Black children standing in line outside a building. The closest child fills much of the frame, and he looks off into the distance. — Fig. 19 Photo by: Edwin Rosskam, courtesy of Library of Congress

A black and white photo taken in 1941 showing a Black man and woman outside of a two-story wooden house with two windows on each floor and a set of wooden stairs that goes directly to the second floor. The woman leans against a fence that is missing some pickets, and the man sits on a stool looking up at her. He wears glasses and holds a cane, and she wears a floral dress and dark cardigan sweater. — Fig. 20 Photo by: Edwin Rosskam, courtesy of Library of Congress

Edwin Rosskam worked for the Farm Security Administration (FSA). He documented American life through photography during the Great Depression and the Great Migration. He visited the South Side of Chicago in 1941 to take photographs. All of the photos that follow were taken by him on that trip.

Lesson 1 Sequence

Think-Pair-Share

Directions: First, take a moment to think quietly about the following prompt and to write down some initial ideas. Then turn to your partner and share one observation each. Make sure your idea is based on what a photograph can actually show (an observation), not just on a guess (an inference). Once Partner A has shared their observation, Partner B will share.

What can a photograph teach us about a community that a list of facts might miss?

How to Analyze an Image

Directions: Edwin Rosskam spent three weeks in 1941 documenting daily life on the South Side of Chicago during the Great Migration. Let’s look at this image together, and practice distinguishing between what we can see and what we think it might mean.

What is one thing you notice first in this image?
What makes you say that?
What question does this image raise for you?
What can this photograph show us, and what can it not tell us?

Group Accountability Share

Directions: Each of you will receive one photograph from Rosskam’s South Side Chicago collection. First, look at your photograph silently and use your Notice, Wonder, Connect organizer as you study it. In the Notice section, describe only what you can point to (observations). In the Wonder section, write questions the image raises. In the Connect section, note one idea about daily life, community, or opportunity that this image might help us explore. Then meet with classmates who studied the same image to build a stronger group explanation using evidence from the photograph. Choose one speaker to present for your group, but everyone should be ready to elaborate if needed.

What is one specific detail in your photograph that you can point to exactly?
What might that detail suggest about the moment in the photograph?

Directions: Now meet with classmates who studied the same image. As a group, decide on one strong claim about what is happening, two details that support that claim, and one question the image raises.

What’s going on in this picture?
What makes you say that?
What else do you see?
What details in this image show routine, care, work, style, or community?
What in the image makes you think something may have happened right before or right after this moment?

Whole Class Discussion

Directions: As each group presents, listen for one new detail or one new question that helps you understand the image more clearly.

Which group helped you see its photograph more clearly, and what detail made their explanation stronger?
After hearing several groups, what patterns do you notice across the full set of images?

Reflection
Reflect on your ability to analyze images and develop evidence-based claims using the Reflection routine.

Quick Write

Directions: Choose the image that interests you most. It can be your own image or one another group presented. Write a 4-6 sentence response that clearly describes the image and answers the following prompt:

Which image interests you the most, and why? Explain what draws you to the image using at least two specific visual details, and end with one genuine question about the people, place, or moment. Then add one final sentence explaining what helped you move from inference to observation today.