In Jim Crow South, Tennessee Photographer Captured 'A Community In Black & White'

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In a photo from the Shipp Studio Archive, a man and woman sit for their portrait in rural Tennessee.

The Bitter Southerner recently published its first hardcover book. "A Community in Black & White: A Most Unusual Photo Album of One Southern Community" is a collection of photographs Joe Hardy Shipp took of Hickman County, Tennessee, over several decades in the mid-twentieth century.

His grandson, Joseph Shipp, discovered the collection, which includes thousands of black and white photographs of both black and white members of the Hickman County community. The unusual part? These photos were taken at the height of Jim Crow when white-owned businesses only served white customers. "On Second Thought" host Virginia Prescott speaks with Joseph Shipp.

Shipp began digitizing the archive a few years ago while living in San Francisco. He later moving home to Nashville, Tennessee, to complete the project and publish "A Community in Black & White" with The Bitter Southerner. He joined "On Second Thought" for an interview from WPLN in Nashville. 

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In a photo from the Shipp Studio Archive, chicken (left), daughter, mother and father sit for their portrait in rural Tennessee.