O. N. Pruitt's Possum Town : photographing trouble & resilience in the American South / Berkley Hudson.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Hudson, Fraser Berkley, author.

Contributor:

Anne and Joseph Trachtman Memorial Book Fund.

Series:

Documentary arts and culture

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Pruitt, O. N., 1891-1967.

Pruitt, O. N.

Documentary photography--Mississippi--Columbus.

Documentary photography.

Photographs as information resources.

Photographs--Social aspects.

Photographs.

Photographs--Psychological aspects.

Photographers--Mississippi--Columbus--Biography.

Photographers.

Social aspects.

Columbus (Miss.)--Social life and customs--Pictorial works.

Columbus (Miss.).

Manners and customs.

Mississippi--Columbus.

Genre:

Biographies.

Pictorial works.

Illustrated works.

Physical Description:

xviii, 244 pages : illustrations ; 27 cm.

Place of Publication:

Chapel Hill : The University of North Carolina Press ; [Durham, North Carolina] : published in association with the Center for Documentary Studies at Duke University, [2022]

Summary:

"Photographer O.N. Pruitt (1891-1967) was for some forty years the de facto documentarian of Lowndes County, Mississippi, and its county seat, Columbus--known to locals as 'Possum Town.' His body of work recalls many FSA photographers, but Pruitt was not an outsider with an agenda; he was a community member with intimate knowledge of the town and its residents. Columbus native Berkley Hudson was photographed by Pruitt, and for more than three decades he has considered and curated Pruitt's expansive archive, both as a scholar of media and visual journalism and as a community member. This stunning book presents Pruitt's photography as never before, combining more than 150 images with a biographical introduction and Hudson's short essays and reflective captions on subjects such as religion, ethnic identity, the ordinary graces of everyday life, and the exercise of brutal power"-- Provided by publisher.

"Photographer O.N. Pruitt (1891-1967) was for some forty years the de facto documentarian of Lowndes County, Mississippi, and its county seat, Columbus--known to locals as 'Possum Town.' His body of work recalls many FSA photographers, but Pruitt was not an outsider with an agenda; he was a community member with intimate knowledge of the town and its residents. He photographed his fellow White citizens and Black ones as well, in circumstances ranging from the mundane to the horrific: family picnics, parades, river baptisms, carnivals, fires, funerals, two of Mississippi's last public and legal executions by hanging, and most grimly, a lynching. From formal portraits to candid images of events in the moment, Pruitt's documentary of a specific yet representative southern town offers viewers today an invitation to meditate on the vexing interrelations of photography, community, race, and historical memory. Columbus native Berkley Hudson was photographed by Pruitt, and for more than three decades he has considered and curated Pruitt's expansive archive, both as a scholar of media and visual journalism and as a community member. This stunning book presents Pruitt's photography as never before, combining more than 150 images with a biographical introduction and Hudson's short essays and reflective captions on subjects such as religion and racial violence, small-town work-life and entertainment, and the idea of visual legacy as linked to historical memory"-- Provided by publisher.

Contents:

Machine generated contents note: A Photobiography of a Time and Place

O. N. Pruitt: An Insider Photographer

By the Flow of the Inland River

World Famous Hunting Dog Trainer Er M. Shelley, circa 1930

Happy Feed Store, circa 1925

Oscar West, circa 1930

Touched with Pity

A Cultural Crossroads: Tennessee Williams, May 1952

Miller's Travelling Museum, World Fair Freaks, circa 1930

-1935

Camel Ride at Locke's Zoo, circa 1923

Princess Picture Show, 1944

Catfish Alley Fire

Seven Bellhops and Gilmer Hotel Manager, circa 1930

Vanishing Tribes, 1931

Minstrel Show, circa 1920s

A Racial Crucible

A Spunky Folk Hero: A Farmer Named Sylvester Harris, 1934

Boxer Jack Dempsey, Truman Capote's Parents, the "Egyptian Marvel" of the Great Pasha, and Madame Flozella, 1930

Sunday-Go-to-Meeting

Baptisms, circa 1930s

Reading Pruitt: A Bibliographic Essay.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references and index.

Local Notes:

Acquired for the Penn Libraries with assistance from the Anne and Joseph Trachtman Memorial Book Fund.

ISBN:

9781469662701

1469662701

OCLC:

1267402099