Photo Album Belonging to an African American Who Moved from Shreveport, Louisiana to Los Angeles Following His World War II Service

Shreveport, Louisiana and Los Angeles, California: 1930s to 1950s. Brown faux leather photo album binding, 15.5 x 11.5", string tied, with black and gilt decoration, containing 191 photographs, most cornered in (a few loose), and almost all black and white (a few color). Most of images are snapshots, with five 8 x 10" images present as well. Inscribed "Jim Larry Hunter" to front and rear pastedown. There are also two programs, three real photo postcards, and a few newspaper clippings present. A photo album compiled by Jim Larry Hunter, a young African American man from Shreveport, Louisiana, documenting his deep Southern roots, his military service in World War II, and his postwar life in Los Angeles, where he moved as part of the Great Migration. The album begins with around 110 photographs documenting Hunter's life in Shreveport before the war, and his military service. The first group of these (66 photos) are well annotated, including images of Hunter family members (including apparent family matriarch Ida Mae Hunter), portraits of several soldiers in uniform, snapshots of teachers at the Queensborough School in Shreveport, and several large images of ceremonies. Another page contains 21 photobooth portraits of family and friends, each identified. Towards the middle of the album is a page showing Hunter's service in the Pacific, including a snapshot of the "Brown Bombers", possibly a military baseball team. Another page contains a portrait of a fallen comrade, George A. Graham, together with a handwritten memorial poem.

While records indicate that Hunter enlisted for the draft while living in Shreveport, the 1950 census places him in Harvard Park, a historic African American neighborhood in South Los Angeles, indicating that he was part of the post-war exodus of southern African Americans to Los Angeles. Thus, the remainder of the album, approximately 80 uncaptioned photos, depict Hunter and his young wife while living in L.A. during the late 1940s and 1950s. Shown are Hunter and his family and friends posing in and around their spare, prefabricated apartment building, and in city parks. There are also two photos taken in front of David Starr Jordan High School in the nearby Watts neighborhood, and a 1947 funeral program from a church in Lynwood. Also of interest within the album is a funeral program from a Shreveport church, two v-mailed Easter Cards sent home by Hunter, and various doodles and drawings by Hunter on the album pastedowns. In all, a compelling record of a family starting anew in California during the Great Migration. Rear cover and one album leaf detached, front joint splitting, some wear to covers with tearing along edges, creasing and occasional tearing to album leaves, some images missing. Item #12635

Price: $1,750.00