Chicago life from another generation stilled in history by Wayne F. Miller

Chicago life from another generation stilled in history by Wayne F. Miller

Compared to contemporary life of today, living was terribly difficult and opportunities were awfully scarce in the 1940s, but people worked to survive while maintaining a perspective for their future.

In Chicago, most people heated their apartments with wood and coal, trolley cars rattled from one line to the other end, there were black-and-white movies, jitneys raced up and down certain boulevards and Blacks were packed in apartments.

On Fridays, Saturdays and sometimes Sundays, there were jitterbug dances, floor shows, teas and other cultural events at the Parkway Ballroom. The White City skating rink was another place Blacks enjoyed, especially the midnight ramble.

In an exhibit currently showing at the Woodson Regional Library, all of these aspects of that life have been captured by Wayne F. Miller at the Woodson Regional Library, 9525 S. Halsted St.

Miller will jet from the West Coast to appear at a special conference Saturday, Jan. 20 from 1:30 to 4:30 p.m. in the Woodson Library at which time he will share some of his experiences.

Veteran Journalist Vernon Jarrett will serve as host of the program. Sharing the experience with Miller will be Adam Green, Northwestern University historian; and Kymberly Pinder, art historian at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago.

"Selling the Race: Cultural Productions and Notions of Community in Black Chicago," highlights the role Ebony magazine played in shaping the post-World War II world. Pinder has done extensive research on art on Chicago's South Side and on images of African Americans in photography.

Miller's images of the world of Bronzeville more than half a century ago depict celebrities and everyday life, poverty and glamour. His early photographs were featured in Ebony and Life magazines.

More than 100 of the photographs, never before seen in Chicago, are on exhibit in the gallery of the Chicago Public Library's Vivian G. Harsh Research Collection of Afro-American History and Literature through March 2.

A selection of Miller's Chicago photographs were recently published, under the same title, as the exhibit by the University of California Press.

Article Copyright Sengstacke Enterprises, Inc.

Photo (A postman climbs stairs to deliver mail in 1940s Chicago)