Chicago: 1946-48
 

A photo essay on post WW II Chicago's poor.
http://inmotion.magnumphotos.com/essay/chicago-1946-48
Unfortunately for some, it didn't end in 1948.

Oh my - well worth looking at.

When the right wing press here have it that we are going to hell in a handbasket I try to remind people just how basic some people's lives used to be.

I'm not suggesting things aren't hard now for some people, but for many they are a hell of a lot better in 2 generations (1 for people my age)

Even though the scenes might seem poor there was a certain amount of nostalgia and community back then. The pace was slower. People had time.Time to sit outside the store and tell storys. Time to play games and visit with neighbors. Watching out for each other. It just seems that way. These days poverty can't even claim to be rich in good will perhaps for no other reason than everyone works so fast and hard trying not to be poor. *shrug*


It just seems like 'Those were the days'.

TV drew everyone indoors, and the community became a 'hood.

Nice find Bruce. There's a lot to think about in those pics.

Quite an impressive photo essay.

I have time.

I was talking to my next-door-neighbour-but-one tonight.
I was telling an old giffer about my Grandparents in the pub this afternoon.
I'm here with you tonight and you have shared nearly 3 years of my life.

Community isn't dead - it's just different.

ahh how true SG!! ( your tugging on my heart ) Can we clone you and have an SG on every block! What a fine world it would be. :muse:

but what Bruce says is true too. We have gone inside so we don't spend as much time outside visiting with neighbors as we would otherwise. As say this I am planning my March 2009 wide screen TV purchase.

I'm failing to see the point of this very good Artistic exposue of Chicagoes poor of yesteryear.

Are you saying if we dont' look back, we can't move forward?. There's a problem in that. Sometimes we get stuck in the past which stops us from looking to the future.

I've noticed some here have mentioned sense of community and having time to stand around, without commenting on the social realities of this. Standing around = No job, And also backs up the notion of the time that Negroes didn't want to work and were naturally lazy. Sense of community = When you disenfranchise a group they will automatically become one, and have a closer neighbourhood relationship because in numbers and close association there is a sense of strength.

Not at all, the poor were not all black, either. They were not dressed in rags, although there were working mens clothes, with wear and tear. But they were clean and fairly neat.

It looks to me like they were hanging out with friends and neighbors, because that's what people did after work, pre-TV.

Don't forget, '46-'48, industry was redirecting it's focus from war production to consumer goods, many were unemployed, and housing was in short supply.

Those people didn't look angry, despondent or belligerent. They looked like people worrying about life, the way everyone does, seriously considering the future. They looked like people... just people.