Through the lens of this camera, Henry Clay “H. C.” Anderson captured images of segregated life among Greenville, Mississippi’s African American population. Seen through Anderson’s lens, Greenville is a place of spirit and resolve—a community where the black middle class refuses to allow the systemic injustice and racial stereotypes of the time to define them. Anderson’s images sought a nuanced portrayal of black middle-class life in the Deep South.

For this reason, images of poverty, racial violence, and injustice are not dominant in Anderson’s photographs. Rather, his images captured scenes from a vibrant community of citizens, including portraits of family life, civic events, church gatherings, school dances, and the men, women, and children that called Greenville home.

Anderson spent his entire life (1911-1988) in the Mississippi Delta as teacher and minister, opening his photography studio on Greenville’s Nelson Street in 1948.  

In 1997, filmmaker Shawn Wilson interviewed H. C. Anderson and established their friendship. Anderson died a year later, leaving a significant portion of his photography collection to Wilson. With the help of collector Charles Schwartz, Wilson preserved the H. C. Anderson photography collection, published a book of his images, and developed a film documenting H. C. Anderson’s life and work. 

The camera and photograph pictured above are now in the collection of theSmithsonian National Museum of African American History and Culture. Visitors to the museum can view these objects in the “Power of Place” exhibition.

Credits and Sources:

2007.1.37.1 - Camera from the studio of H.C. Anderson, 1960s. Manufactured by: Espino Barros e Hijos, S.A. Collection of the Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and Culture.

2007.1.70.12 - Portrait of a couple on a motorcycle outside of Anderson Photo Service studio, ca. 1960.

Photograph by: Rev. Henry Clay Anderson. Collection of the Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and Culture, © Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and Culture.

Separate, But Equal: The Mississippi Photographs of Henry Clay Anderson. New York: Public Affairs, 2002.