Pierre Verger (1902-1996) was a well-traveled photojournalist in the thirties and forties with assignments in Europe, Asia, Africa and the Americas. The book has 150 plates from his two visits to the US and a long illustrated essay by Javier Rodriquez.
What is intriguing about Verger's work is his interest in African Americans. Many photos show them at work, going to church, children playing, street scenes, or just relaxing in groups or individually. Verger, born in France, probably wasn't too aware of segregation, especially in the southern states. The first forty-nine photos were taken in New York, the remainders were of the south, many in New Orleans, Arizona, Los Angeles and San Francisco.
There are two things that I found unusual about the book. Firstly, the photos that record the everyday life of the African Americans and secondly, the excellent twenty-three-page essay by Rodriques. This gives plenty of background to the photos Verger took on his American trips and his later career documenting the African slave trade and that continent's various religions. Since 1946 he lived in Salvador, Brazil and in 1988 created a foundation named after him.
Most of these photos have not been published before and it's a worthwhile record of the US in the Depression years. They have been printed with a two hundred screen on a good quality matt art paper.
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