Somewhere in the South, 1946-49, City bus

Marion Palfi, artist

1907–1978

Somewhere in the South, 1946-49, City bus, 1946–1949

Portfolio/Series title: Civil Rights: Signs of Discrimination

Where object was made: United States

Material/technique: gelatin silver print

Dimensions:
Image Dimensions Height/Width (Height x Width): 34.6 x 26.5 cm
Image Dimensions Height/Width (Height x Width): 13 5/8 x 10 7/16 in
Mat Dimensions (Height x Width): 20 x 16 in

Credit line: Gift of Marion Palfi

Accession number: 1973.0154

Not on display

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Images

Label texts

Brosseau Center for Learning: Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Access

After immigrating to the United States from Nazi Germany, Marion Palfi turned her camera lens toward the injustices of American society, including discrimination based on class, gender, and race. In this photograph, Palfi captured the riders of a city bus forced to sit in the back because of racial segregation. This is one of many photographs she took while traveling in the America South in the 1940s.

Archive Label 2003:
Marion Palfi considered herself a social scientist rather than an artist. She intended her photographs to have a social instead of a commercial purpose; therefore she seldom sold them. Between 1946 and 1972, Palfi created a photographic study meant to reveal injustice in the United States, titled Invisible in America.