In 1939, UNC Press published Tobe, illustrated with scores of black-and-white photographs of children from an African American community outside Greensboro. Marking Tobe‘s 75th anniversary, this exhibition explored how this one book opens up to reveal stories within stories — of rural African American life, of the history of children’s literature, of the 1930s documentary impulse, and, significantly, of real individual families. The search for Tobe opens windows onto the past and raises questions about the power — and limits — of telling stories.
For more details, visit the UNC News Archives, UNC Press blog or see related work by photographer Charles Anderson Farrell.
