Harlem South: A View Through The Lens

Harlem South: A View Through the Lens is a multimedia performance that will chronicle the dynamics of African American life in Columbia, SC, through the photography of Richard Samuel Roberts.  By day, Mr. Roberts was a custodian at the Post Office in Columbia, SC.  On his days off and evenings, he was the photographer and documentarian for the segregated Black community in Columbia.  He captured diverse aspects of Black life in the city, including images of bankers, teachers, manual laborers, children, and those who were just “common folk.”  During his life in Columbia, he captured more than 10,000 portraits that, in effect, chronicled Black life under Jim Crow from 1920 until his death in 1936. As the city’s sole Black photographer, he was a documentarian responsible for establishing a Southern Renaissance that, though on a smaller scale, paralleled the artistic revolution happening “Up North” in Harlem. 

This production will weave a number of moving parts to bring to life a series of still images and quiet archives.  Musicians, narrator, and film technician combine talents to bring vibrancy and to breathe life into Robert’s Harlem South images. We will surround Robert’s images with other historical footage from the period to further bring to life and perspective to the images.  A script that is drawn from the images gives depth through the construction of historical fiction.

This story is particularly timely. Literature in twentieth-century African American history continues to expose national arts movements beyond the Harlem Renaissance.  The symbol politics in this realm have exploded with the recent lowering of the Confederate Flag from the State Capitol in Columbia and recent racial tensions throughout the country.  This multimedia performance will contextualize the people and the period through Richard Samuel Roberts’ lens.