40 Amazing Black and White Photographs That Capture a Different America During the 1950s

   

Swiss-born photographer Robert Frank is one of the most influential photographers of the mid-20th century; he was noted for ironic renderings of American life.

 

Frank became a professional industrial photographer at the age of 22 and in the 1940s became a successful fashion photographer for Harper’s Bazaar magazine in Paris. He felt, however, that the scope of the work was too limited. He abandoned fashion photography about 1948 and went to the United States and then to Peru to explore the expressive possibilities of the 35-mm camera.

After photographing in Europe in 1950 and 1953, Frank returned to the United States. There in 1955 and 1956 he made a series of photographs ultimately published as The Americans (1959), a photographic book which showed a different America than the wholesome, nonconfrontational photo essays offered in some popular magazines.

Frank’s subjects weren’t necessarily living the American dream of the 1950s: They were factory workers in Detroit, transvestites in New York, black passengers on a segregated trolley in New Orleans.

 
Coffee Shop, Railway Station

Amazing Black and White Photographs That Capture a Different America During the 1950s

 
Assembly Plant, Ford, Detroit

Amazing Black and White Photographs That Capture a Different America During the 1950s

Bar, Las Vegas

 

Belle Isle, Detroit

Amazing Black and White Photographs That Capture a Different America During the 1950s

Canal Street, New Orleans

Amazing Black and White Photographs That Capture a Different America During the 1950s

Candy Store, New York City

Amazing Black and White Photographs That Capture a Different America During the 1950s

Casino, Elko, Nevada

Amazing Black and White Photographs That Capture a Different America During the 1950s

Charity Ball, New York City

Amazing Black and White Photographs That Capture a Different America During the 1950s

Charleston, South Carolina

 

 
Chattanooga, Tennessee

Amazing Black and White Photographs That Capture a Different America During the 1950s

Chicago

Amazing Black and White Photographs That Capture a Different America During the 1950s

City Hall, Reno, Nevada

Amazing Black and White Photographs That Capture a Different America During the 1950s

Club Car

Amazing Black and White Photographs That Capture a Different America During the 1950s

Courthouse Square, Elizabethville, North Carolina

Amazing Black and White Photographs That Capture a Different America During the 1950s

Detroit

Amazing Black and White Photographs That Capture a Different America During the 1950s

Drugstore, Detroit

Amazing Black and White Photographs That Capture a Different America During the 1950s

Elevator, Miami Beach

Amazing Black and White Photographs That Capture a Different America During the 1950s

Funeral, St. Helena, South Carolina

Amazing Black and White Photographs That Capture a Different America During the 1950s

Georgetown, South Carolina

Amazing Black and White Photographs That Capture a Different America During the 1950s

Hotel Lobby, Miami Beach

Amazing Black and White Photographs That Capture a Different America During the 1950s

Iowa

Amazing Black and White Photographs That Capture a Different America During the 1950s

Los Angeles

Amazing Black and White Photographs That Capture a Different America During the 1950s

Men’s Room, Railway Station, Memphis

Amazing Black and White Photographs That Capture a Different America During the 1950s

Motorama, Los Angeles

Amazing Black and White Photographs That Capture a Different America During the 1950s

Movie Premiere, Hollywood

Amazing Black and White Photographs That Capture a Different America During the 1950s

Parade, Hoboken, New Jersey

Amazing Black and White Photographs That Capture a Different America During the 1950s

Picnic Ground, Glendale, California

Amazing Black and White Photographs That Capture a Different America During the 1950s

Political Rally, Chicago

Amazing Black and White Photographs That Capture a Different America During the 1950s

Public Park, Michigan

Amazing Black and White Photographs That Capture a Different America During the 1950s

Ranch Market, Hollywood

Amazing Black and White Photographs That Capture a Different America During the 1950s

Rodeo, Detroit

Amazing Black and White Photographs That Capture a Different America During the 1950s

Rooming House, Bunker Hill, Los Angeles

Amazing Black and White Photographs That Capture a Different America During the 1950s

Savannah, Georgia

Amazing Black and White Photographs That Capture a Different America During the 1950s

St. Francis, Gas Station and City Hall, Los Angeles

Amazing Black and White Photographs That Capture a Different America During the 1950s

St. Petersburg, Florida

Amazing Black and White Photographs That Capture a Different America During the 1950s

Trolley, New Orleans

Amazing Black and White Photographs That Capture a Different America During the 1950s

U.S. 285, New Mexico

Amazing Black and White Photographs That Capture a Different America During the 1950s

Public Park, Cleveland, Ohio

Amazing Black and White Photographs That Capture a Different America During the 1950s

 
Rodeo, New York City

Amazing Black and White Photographs That Capture a Different America During the 1950s

 
Drive-in movie, Detroit