Hugh Mangum

1877 — 1922

Hugh Mangum was an American photographer who became known for his work documenting racial segregation in the American South. The open door policy in Mangum's studio welcomed everybody, regardless of skin colour or background, with an emphasis on portraits lit naturally. He kept no records of his subjects, and charged a low fee that made his services widely affordable.

Mangum died aged just forty-four in 1922; his glass plate negatives were discovered in a tobacco barn fifty years later, and eventually digitised and published by the Duke University libraries, preserving for future generations a vital snapshot of American life in the early twentieth century.