Where We Find Ourselves: The Photographs of Hugh Mangum, 1897–1922 (Documentary Arts and Culture, Published in association with the Center for Documentary Studies at Duke University) Hardcover – Illustrated, February 4, 2019

Full disclosure - I am friends with both authors, photographers and scholars Margaret Sartor and Alex Harris.That being said, this is an astonishing book about the long-overlooked photographer Hugh Mangum, and his work during the period from 1915-1922. Mangum was an itinerant photographer, making periodic visits to the small towns of North Carolina and southern Virginia, as well as further afield. What is most remarkable is that, in the Jim Crow South, he took poised and posed photos of Black people and their white neighbors, treating all with equal dignity.Sartor has written an absorbing essay on the remarkable achievement that Mangum's career represents. This insightful study follows the collection of the photos themselves, which were rescued after decades of neglect. The glass-plate negatives were often badly damaged; in some instances, two images became fused together. But these half-ruined negatives provide striking images of their own, which these documentarians have scrupulously *not* cleaned up or chemically altered. This gives the images, both those in pristine condition and those pockmarked and stained, their own quiet dignity.The researchers made another powerful decision, in that none of those people illustrated are named. History would surely provide some context for photos, but would certainly provide only those names of Mangum's white portraits. Instead, all are left their silent place in history, save for the self-portraits and photos of Mangum's wife and family.It's an utterly absorbing look at a period and place it's all too easy to dismiss. A wonderful book for anyone who values American history.

Both the written content and the photographic reproductions are superb, rallying the reader to take notice of this as-yet largely unheard of portrait photographer. Mangam’s work in the service of both white and black subjects in a racially divided Jim Crow South, and his photographic rendering of all his subjects with empathy and dignity is especially compelling and relevant in today’s racially charged atmosphere. There are lessons to be learned from Mangam that might begin with learning to see one another as he did.

As a native of the area (but not living there now), I thoroughly enjoyed the essays. And I find the images thought provoking. I am very glad to have this book.

Awesome!!