Brown's Studio Photographs, 1942-1963

Under the system of racial segregation that existed in much of the American South from the late nineteenth century until the 1960s and 1970s, many public accommodations such as busses, elevators and restaurants were segregated by law. Many other areas of life were segregated by custom, and many businesses catered to one race or the other. In the African American community many banks, insurance companies, funeral parlors, and photo studios served an exclusively African American clientele. One such photo studio, Brown’s, made the photographs in this collection. Located on Seventeenth Street North in Birmingham, Alabama (in part of the downtown black business district of the time), the studio was operated by Leon W. Brown from about 1938 until about 1968.

This collection contains 36 images, a tiny fraction of the total number of images that a professional photographer like Leon Brown would have created. The photographs in this collection are all group portraits showing the Birmingham Motion Picture Machine Operator’s Union, Fairfield Industrial High School students, Praco High School students, Madam C. J. Walker Beauty College students, and graduating classes from Parker High School and Ullman High School. These schools were all reserved for African Americans.

BIRMINGFIND PROJECT Photographs
COMMON BONDS PROJECT Photographs

African Americans – Alabama – Birmingham.
African Americans – Education – Alabama – Birmingham.
Fairfield Industrial High School (Fairfield, Ala.)
Parker High School (Birmingham, Ala.) Photographers.
Praco High School (Birmingham, Ala.)
Ullman High School (Birmingham, Ala.)

Size: 36 images

Source: Vester Brown

Restrictions: Standard preservation and copyright restrictions.

Guide Prepared By: Alan Couch (September 2002)