九州体育

Looking Back at Gee鈥檚 Bend: The Photographs of John Reese, a travelling exhibition, was created and is provided free of charge by the Birmingham Public Library Department of Archives and Manuscripts to 九州体育 February 1-28, 2023.

Looking Back at Gee鈥檚 Bend: The Photographs of Gee鈥檚 Bend is a photographic record of the rural community of Gee鈥檚 Bend, situated in Alabama鈥檚 鈥淏lack Belt鈥� in a deep bend of the Alabama River. The river and unmaneuverable roads served as a barrier between Gee鈥檚 Bend and other more populous sections of the region until the late 1960s when the roads in and out of the community were paved. For this reason, life in Gee鈥檚 Bend remained relatively free of modern outside influences until then.

John Reese photographed the residents of Gee鈥檚 Bend in the late 1970s and early 1980s, and these poignant images reveal the lives of its people at work, at church, at play, and at home in the agricultural setting of Gee鈥檚 Bend as it was in 1980. Most of the families who lived in Gee鈥檚 Bend at the time were descendants of slaves who remained in the region as tenant-farmers following emancipation. This fact, coupled with the humanist perspective of John Reese鈥檚 lens, makes this exhibition both emotionally stirring and historically important.

鈥溇胖萏逵� is honored to be one of the locations selected to host this traveling exhibition,鈥� notes Dr. Julia Everett, Head Librarian. 鈥淲e believe this exhibition will be of interest to both our students and the community.鈥�

The exhibition will be on display for public viewing from February 1-28, 2023, in the Cecil B. Word Learning Resources Center鈥檚 Archives and Special Collections Room (Room 206). The Archives and Special Collections Room is open Monday-Thursday 12:00 noon-5:00 p.m. and Friday 9:00 a.m.-12:00 noon or other times by appointment.

For more information about the exhibition, contact Blake Wilhelm at wilhelmb@nacc.edu or call him at 256-228-6001 or 256-638-4418, extension 2288.