Jim Crow Image Gallery

These collections offer teachers and students visual perspectives on the Jim Crow years. Many of these images have never before been published online and are exclusive to this site. They reveal many aspects of the themes of segregation, disfranchisement, civil rights, and violence that lay at the heart of the Jim Crow experience. They put a human face to the story of Jim Crow. Use the Image Essay and accompanying Lesson Plan to find additional materials and suggested use of images as historical artifacts.

Paris Exposition Universelle Collection In 1900, W.E.B. Du Bois traveled with several boxes of photographs, captions, maps, and educational materials to display in the "Negro Section" of the American exhibit. So impressive were the images, that the Exhibition judges awarded Du Bois a gold medal as the Exhibit's principal compiler. Read more about the Paris Exposition Universelle and W.E.B. Du Bois.	Jim Crow Collection Historical images from archives across America that illuminate the story of Jim Crow. The historical images here are drawn primarily from the Prints and Photographs Division of the Library of Congress.
R.C. Hickman Collection R. C. Hickman is a Dallas-based photographer whose pictures appeared for several decades in the Dallas Star-Post, a thriving African-American-owned newspaper. This is the first time this collection has been made available online. Photos courtesy of the R. C. Hickman Photograph Collection, Center for American History, University of Texas at Austin.	Gandy Natchez Collection In 1960, Natchez, Mississippi physician Thomas Gandy purchased a large pile of deteriorating wooden boxes containing the remains of old photographic negatives. When he opened the boxes, he was astonished to find an extraordinary collection of glass and celluloid negatives (numbering in the thousands) documenting the life of Natchez during the Jim Crow era. Many of these photographs, taken by town photographer Henry C. Norman, depict African Americans of the middle and upper-middle class in all their dignity. Dr. Gandy and Joan Gandy have spent the better part of the last 30 years restoring and researching the pictures in this collection. The images presented here are now available online for the first time.
Cecil J. Williams Collection Cecil J. Williams began taking photographs of his Orangeburg, South Carolina community at the age of nine. By 15, he was working professionally for several African-American owned publications. His photographs have been featured in numerous publications and galleries, and in private and corporate collections throughout the United States. Williams has served many years as the official photographer for the SC Branch NAACP and the National Conference of Black Mayors, Inc.	Working for a Living Collection Jobs and occupations under Jim Crow. For lesson activity suggestions on how to use this collection, click here.
The Distorted Mirror Collection Images of African Americans in the popular culture of Jim Crow. For lesson activity suggestions on how to use this collection, click here.	Signs of Segregation Collection The visible artifacts of discrimination. For lesson activity suggestions on how to use this collection, click here.
On the Front Lines Collection The men and women who most visibly put their lives on the line to fight Jim Crow. For lesson activity suggestions on how to use this collection, click here.