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Hester Street
Sol Libsohn
ca. 1938
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The early documentary photographer Sol Libsohn was born in Harlem, the son of East European immigrants. Self-taught, he went to work for the Works Progress Administration in the 1930s, recording the lives of New Yorkers struggling during the Great Depression. In 1936, he was one of the cofounders of the Photo League, a group of left-wing photographers, most of whom were Jewish, who were committed to documenting everyday urban subjects and ordinary American lives.
On the third morning, as soon as I was alone, I found the way to the mellah [in Marrakesh]. I came to an intersection where many Jews were standing around. Traffic was streaming past them and around a…
Before the war Bloyne was a rich and elegant Jewish town: wide streets, a large municipal park, several monuments, many tall buildings, large stores. But when the war came through, the town was…