Scope and Content Note
The African American Expressive Culture in Philadelphia project contains over 20,000 pictures taken at hundreds of events, encounters, and photograph sessions in Philadelphia between March 18 and November 1, 1989. The photos were part of a larger folklife project that Roland Freeman worked on with Glenn Hinson and Jerrilyn McGregory, two doctoral students at the University of Pennsylvania. Freeman served as director and photographer of the project that resulted in an exhibition at the 1989 American Folklore Society meeting in Philadelphia. Selections from the project, along with Freeman's commentary, were published in National Geographic (August 1990, Vol. 1, Issue 2, pp. 66-91).
The collection is particularly rich in images depicting church services, family events, and social events including festivals and parades. African American artistic culture is well represented with photos depicting music, dance, sculpture, quilting, murals, and folk art. Photos also show laborers and a variety of African American businesses including food vendors, restaurants, bars, stables, hair salons, and barber shops. The collection also includes many photos of leisure activities and sports including baseball, basketball, boxing, checkers, and Double Dutch jump rope.
The collection consists of contact sheets showing all of the images made for the project and a selection of 8 x 10 inch prints. It also includes negatives for all but the first 50 rolls Freeman made for the project. Also, there are a few negatives missing from rolls 54, 508 and 533.