A true likeness

Richard Samuel Roberts, a black photographer, had operated a commercial studio in Columbia from 1920 until his death in 1936. When his studio was closed down shortly thereafter, his negatives were stored under the family home. Not until 1977 did a chance visit by a field archivist from the South Caroliniana Library at the University of South Carolina reveal the fact that Roberts's negatives still existed. Almost miraculously, most were still in good condition. In their scope and camera artistry they constitute an eloquent pictorial record, documenting the life and times of the black inhabitants of a southern city from just after the First World War until well into the Depression. Especially noteworthy is Roberts's depiction of the black middle-class community. Those unfamiliar with the South of the 1920s and 1930s are unaware that there was a flourishing black middle-class in the southern cities. Here, captured by Roberts's camera, is ample evidence of its existence. Some 200 of his best pictures have been chosen for publication in A True Likeness. They show men, women, and children in the studio and elsewhere, people at work and at play, their homes, automobiles, and other possessions. Roberts also traveled to other cities and into rural South Carolina, always with camera and film.