Photographs from Kentucky's historic African-American hamlets. My project is a tribute to the residents of these hamlets, a salute to the elders who learned of slavery at their grandparent’s knees and endured the Jim Crow south. Who lived ‘separate but equal’ and saw the decades of milestones and their impacts, including desegregation, social segregation, and ultimately the election of Barack Obama. The residents did much more than endure and survive negative circumstances; they rose above them and thrived.
These images are from my 15 year project called The Homeplace.
The Homeplace is comfort. The place you can go back to no matter how many years have passed. It will always hold something familiar something safe.
I have walked into these churches as an unknown, but never leaving a stranger, welcomed with open arms. These images a selection of hurting and reflection. I know those at Emanuel AME opened their arms to a stranger as the angles now open their wings to them and our tears fall.