12 Million Black Voices (Paperback) (ISBN-13: 9781560254461)

12 Million Black Voices, first published in 1941, combines Wright's prose with startling photographs selected by Edwin Rosskam from the Security Farm Administration files compiled during the Great Depression. The photographs include works by such giants as Walker Evans, Dorothea Lange, and Arthur Rothstein. From crowded, rundown farm shacks to Harlem storefront churches, the photos depict the lives of black people in 1930s America--their misery and weariness under rural poverty, their spiritual strength, and their lives in northern ghettos. Wright's accompanying text eloquently narrates the story of these 90 pictures and delivers a powerful commentary on the origins and history of black oppression in this country. Also included are new prefaces by Douglas Brinkley, Noel Ignatiev, and Michael Eric Dyson. "Among all the works of Wright, 12 Million Black Voices stands out as a work of poetry, ... passion, ... and of love."--David Bradley "A more eloquent statement of its kind could hardly have been devised."--The New York Times Book Review

Author: Richard Wright
ISBN-10: 1560254467
ISBN-13: 9781560254461
Publisher: Basic Books
Language: English
Published: 12/16/2002
Pages: 166
Format: Paperback
Weight: 0.70lbs
Size: 9.90h x 6.90w x 0.40d

Review Citation(s):
New Yorker (The) 09/06/2010 pg. 78