Picturing Black History

Photographs and stories that changed the world

A collaboration of and

1930s

Picturing the Black CCC Experience with Company 526

The Civilian Conservation Corps, one of Franklin Delano Roosevelt’s most popular New Deal programs, provided work, education, and recreation opportunities for hundreds of thousands of young African American men.

A photograph of three African American women who were identified as domestic helpers waiting for a street car, all three women are wearing coats and hats, two men and a woman who are white are also waiting on transportation, Atlanta, Georgia. 1939. From the New York Public Library.

Black Women’s Work and Leisure in the Black Mecca

The everyday lives and struggles of Black women in Atlanta reveal the roots of their activism.

Paul Robeson, singer, performer and civil rights activist, is welcomed in Russia, Moscow, Russia, January 19, 1935.

Paul Robeson in the Soviet Union

Between the 1930s and 1960s, the famous singer and actor made many visits to the world’s first socialist country, which made a lasting impression on his art and politics.

Gladys Bentley: Pioneering Queer Performer

Gladys Bentley consistently and unapologetically broke the unspoken rules of gender norms

Workers of the World

Black Communists Fought for Jobs and Safety in 1930 Washington, D.C.

230 Annie and John Glenn Avenue, Columbus, OH 43210