In 1973 photographer John H. White, who went on to win the Pulitzer Prize in Photojournalism in 1982, was asked by the Environmental Protection Agency’s DOCUMERICA project to photograph Chicago – especially the city’s African-American community. White would later say that he saw it as “an opportunity to capture a slice of life, to capture history”.
White went on to be a photographer for the Chicago Sun Times in 1978 and continued there until 2013 when the newspaper laid off its entire photojournalism department.
In White’s own words these amazing photographs catch the “spirit, love, zeal, pride and hopes” of the African-American community of Chicago.
Women in wigs at the Bud Billiken Parade.
Chicago ghetto on the South Side.
Mother and daughter returning home after a grocery shopping expedition in Chicago’s West Side.
At the George Westinghouse High School.
Family enjoying the summer weather at Chicago’s 12th Street Beach on Lake Michigan.
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