[Prison Work Crew (ca. 9 Members) Digging Trench and 1 Guard]

Doris Ulmann American

Not on view

Ulmann traveled throughout the South and was struck by regional customs that seemed peculiar and, on occasion, inhumane. Showing a group of African American men digging a trench, Ulmann’s photograph places the viewer in the midst of their degrading labor. At right, an armed supervisor, his face strangely obscured, menacingly stands guard. This image was printed for the second edition of the book Roll, Jordan Roll, with text by the Southern author Julia Peterkin.

[Prison Work Crew (ca. 9 Members) Digging Trench and 1 Guard], Doris Ulmann (American, 1882–1934), Photogravure from glass negative

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