If you’ve never seen color images from the 1940s, prepare to be amazed. I ran across this Library of Congress exhibit sometime last year, and the images (especially of the WWII era South) amazed me. There is some indefinite line that a color image crosses that makes it seem more real. I’ve read about things like sharecropping in the South, and even seen black and white pictures of it, but images like this one just blow my mind because it feels like you can almost reach back and touch it. You can feel the heat, smell the dirt, and see the despair.
