Where We Find Ourselves

“Interesting on so many levels, this is Americana at its most compelling, real buried treasure brought to life.”—Library Journal

“Studying these faces arrayed together is . . . deeply moving and expands the historical imagination. At a time in the South when racial inequality was the law in hotels, restaurants, schools and churches, Mangum’s photography studios may have been charmed places where, for a nominal fee, you could manifest your value as a fellow human being.”—Wall Street Journal

“This book offers a rare glimpse into the life and work of a talented and artistic southern photographer born and raised in Durham. . . . Careful selections include more than ninety pages of photographs that highlight Mangum’s ability and sensibility as a photographer, his playfulness and humor, and the ease and comfort his clients felt in his company. . . . A significant contribution to the study of photography in North Carolina.”—North Carolina Historical Review

“A curated collection and exploration of of Hugh Mangum. . . . [I]deal for libraries collecting titles about North Carolina history.”—North Carolina History

“How fortunate we are to have these absorbing portraits. First they seduce our eyes and our hearts, then they open our minds.” —Peter Galassi, former chief curator of photography, Museum of Modern Art, New York

“These faces, at times smiling, at times stern, sometimes hatted, sometimes bare, are as ghostly as they are concrete. Often formal, even with chickens, they make the twenty-first century seem dull with all its bright colors. Where We Find Ourselves is a gift. Hugh Mangum saw things we need to keep looking for.”—Randall Kenan, author of The Fire This Time

“Looking through Hugh Mangum’s lens, we are transported to another time. History comes to life in these diverse portraits of southern lives.”—Barbara Krauthamer, coauthor of Envisioning Emancipation: Black Americans and the End of Slavery