Lillian Smith used her status as a privileged insider to expose and detail the paradoxes and complexity of racism over 70 years ago. Inspired by Lillian’s book “Killers of the Dream,” Florence Mars, a white woman from Mississippi’s upper-class, made visible the racial nuances, injustices and contradictions of the South. Through the lens of her camera, Florence documented the humanity of black residents beset by discrimination and poverty. During the pivotal time of the civil rights movement, Ms. Mars publicly criticized the Ku Klux Klan, and exposed the fear and intimidation that effected her community. Her photos, most of which unpublished until now, alters our perceptions about racism and segregation in the years of the Jim Crow South.
Please click here to read the full NYT article.