Portraits of African
Americans from the Alvan S. Harper Collection (1884-1910)
In the last decades of the 19th Century, white
Southern society began to pass laws to reverse the gains African Americans
made during Reconstruction. By 1900, the Age of Jim Crow (legal segregation)
was in full swing. Yet as these images taken by Tallahassee photographer
Alvan S. Harper reveal, many African Americans were able to prosper despite
the social and legal restrictions they faced.
Although unidentified today, these
images represent the teachers, business owners, and local leaders of
Tallahassee’s vibrant African American community.
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Young
African American woman wearing a white dress
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Young
woman wearing fancy hat
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Man
in a satin-faced coat, holding a cane
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Woman in dress with embroidered front and cuffs
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Woman
in dark dress with roses on bodice
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Man
in white coat, with tilted hat and cane
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Woman in embossed dress
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Woman in striped dress holding handkerchief
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Young man
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Girl
holding a fan standing behind a gate
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Woman
holding parasol
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See the Alvan
S. Harper collection for more images of Tallahasseans and the Tallahassee
area. |
