About This Image

Henry Clay Anderson ran the Anderson Photo Service in Greenville, Mississippi from the late 1940s to the '60s, and during that time every aspect of African-American life came before his lens. Though highly segregated, Greenville was the site of a thriving middle-class, African-American community—an aspect of American life that is all-too-rarely documented. Pictured is an outdoor beauty pageant, with participants clad in swimwear.

A portfolio of 10 photographs, printed posthumously, from Anderson’s original negatives by Laurent Girard. This portfolio is accompanied by a copy of an award-winning documentary about Mr. Anderson's photographs and the stories surrounding them: Separate, But Equal - winner of the 2011 HBO Best Documentary Film award at the Martha’s Vineyard African American Film Festival (made by Shawn Wilson).

This photograph is only available as part of the portfolio - individual prints have sold out.

Illustrated: H.C. Anderson, "Separate, But Equal," Public Affairs, New York, 2002, page 79.