Storefront Churches
Storefront Churches, 1958-1961
"I began my Store Front Churches series as a way of speaking out about problems in our society, through photography. I was encouraged to do this series by historian W.E.B. DuBois, who later wrote an introduction to this series." –Milton Rogovin
The Store Front Churches were on the East Side of Buffalo, New York. Included are photographs of preachers Mother Tokio and Mother Green. The music resonates with drums, horns, symbols, the washboard, tambourines, piano and more. Witness the laying on of hands and the trance. It was in this series where Milton learned to use the bare bulb flash as well as the integration of movement in his photographs.
Related Publications
Picture Man: the Poetry of Photographer Milton Rogovin, [DVD] 19 min. 23 sec, 70 photographs, 17 poems, 2009. Milton, at age 89 years old, selected a number of his special images to write about, wanting to express in writing something more about his photographs.
Milton Rogovin: The Lens & The Pen: Photography & Poetry, Palisade Press 2009. At age 89, Milton Rogovin selected a number of his special photographs, wanting to express something more about his images.
Store Front Churches, Aperture magazine 10:2, 1962. Introduction by historian W.E.B. DuBois. 40 photos in original layout.
Milton Rogovin: The Forgotten Ones, University of Washington Press, 1985; Quantuck Lane Press, 2003
Milton Rogovin: The Making of a Social Documentary Photographer, University of Washington Press and the Center for Creative Photography, September 30, 2006
For curriculum and a folio download of the Store Front Churches series, as well as the 1962 Aperture article with an essay by W.E.B. DuBois, please visit the education page.