From the 19th century on.
Traveling photographers, local photographers, captured portraits,
and landscapes, and in the twentieth century,
some of our greatest American photographers made images of the South.
Walker Evans and his friend James Agee.
Visited Hale County, Alabama, and produced a book called
"Let Us Now Praise Famous Men," that is a classic portrait of white sharecroppers,
and Walker's photographs captured the faces, the homes,
and the landscape of these worlds in a way that is truly unforgettable.
He is arguably the greatest black and
white photographer our nation has produced.
And he spoke with me about his friendship with James Agee,
who wrote the book that was illustrated by Walker's photographs,
and he talked about Agie's anger over the injustice of poor people suffering and
struggling, in the midst of a country that has great wealth.