A YOUNG BLACK MAN SHOWING HIS MUSCLE DURING A SMALL COMMUNITY PROGRAM IN CHICAGO ON THE SOUTH SIDE. THERE ARE MANY BLOCK CLUBS AND COMMUNITY GROUPS ORGANIZED TO HELP YOUNGSTERS “DO THEIR THING” DURING SPECIAL WEEKEND PROGRAMS IN EMPTY LOTS IN THE BLACK COMMUNITIES. IT HELPS THEM TO DEVELOP CHARACTER AND BELIEF IN THEIR ABILITIES AS WELL AS STRESSING A POSITIVE OUTLOOK ON LIFE
Featured on PDR in the collection John H. White’s Photographs of Black Chicago for DOCUMERICA (1973–74)
It’s hard not to read John H. White’s DOCUMERICA series as a love letter to Black Chicago. Whether capturing protesters or checkers players, concerts or chores, White’s work feels animated by a wonder and curiosity for the great breadth of stories and characters he encountered while exploring his adopted home city — “life”, as he put it in the captions to several of his images, “in all its seasons”.