12 Million Black Voices

Originally published in 1948, 12 Million Black Voices pairs Richard Wright’s beautiful prose with stunning photographs from the Farm Security Administration’s files from the Great Depression. The images, curated by Edwin Rosskam, include photographs shot by legendary American artists like Walker Evans, Dorothea Lange, and Arthur Rothstein, adding a visual dimension to Wright’s incisive commentary on the origins and history of black oppression in America. 

From dusty rural villages to northern ghettos, 12 Million Black Voices is an unflinching portrayal of the lives that many black Americans lived in the 1930s. Depicting remarkable spiritual fortitude and resilience in the face of crushing poverty and hostile government policies, 12 Million Black Voices is a testament to the strength of black communities, giving voices and faces to a population that is too often invisible in the annals of American history. 

(review blurbs)

“Among all the works of Richard Wright, 12 Million Black Voices stands out as a work of poetry, of passion, of lyricism, and of love” —David Bradley

“Short text and picture folk history of the Black American, in which the author of Native Son writes a burning commentary on three centuries of slavery, persecution, and want...Edwin Rosskam, the photographic editor, reinforces the text with superb photographs” —The New Yorker

“A more eloquent statement of its kind could hardly have been devised… flawless prose that takes on at times the quality of a folksong”  —The New York Times Book Review