© 2024 Blue Ridge Public Radio
Blue Ridge Mountains banner background
Your source for information and inspiration in Western North Carolina.
Donate
Play Live Radio
Next Up:
0:00
0:00
0:00 0:00
Available On Air Stations

A Portrait Photographer Defies Social Norms

WUNC | By Frank Stasio,
Anita Rao
Published July 23, 2014 at 11:49 AM EDT

Hugh Mangum’s photographs exhibit at the Durham History Hub

  The late 19th century American South was marked by inequality; Jim Crow was the law of the land and racial segregation was both a social norm and a legal requirement.

But some artists and thinkers, like Durham-based photographer Hugh Mangum, worked to defy that norm. He took portrait photos of everyone—black, white, rich and poor—and he portrayed all of them with dignity. More than 600 of Hugh Mangum’s images have been salvaged and preserved at Duke University’s Rubenstein Library, and a new exhibit at the Durham History Hub shines light on a selection of his portraits that demonstrate the impact he had on the Durham Community. 

Host Frank Stasio talks with the exhibit’s curator Sarah Stacke, and Katie Spencer, executive director of The Durham History Hub.

Hugh Mangum Photographs, David M. Rubenstein Rare Book & Manuscript Library, Duke University.
/
Hugh Mangum Photographs, David M. Rubenstein Rare Book & Manuscript Library, Duke University.
The top left portrait features Hugh Mangum.
Hugh Mangum Photographs, David M. Rubenstein Rare Book & Manuscript Library, Duke University. /
The top left portrait features Hugh Mangum.
Hugh Mangum Photographs, David M. Rubenstein Rare Book & Manuscript Library, Duke University.
/
Hugh Mangum Photographs, David M. Rubenstein Rare Book & Manuscript Library, Duke University.
Hugh Mangum Photographs, David M. Rubenstein Rare Book & Manuscript Library, Duke University.
/
Hugh Mangum Photographs, David M. Rubenstein Rare Book & Manuscript Library, Duke University.
Hugh Mangum Photographs, David M. Rubenstein Rare Book & Manuscript Library, Duke University.
/
Hugh Mangum Photographs, David M. Rubenstein Rare Book & Manuscript Library, Duke University.
Hugh and his wife Annie Carden. Annie's brother, Perry, is on the bottom row.
Hugh Mangum Photographs, David M. Rubenstein Rare Book & Manuscript Library, Duke University. /
Hugh and his wife Annie Carden. Annie's brother, Perry, is on the bottom row.

Copyright 2014 North Carolina Public Radio
Frank Stasio
Longtime NPR correspondent Frank Stasio was named permanent host of The State of Things in June 2006. A native of Buffalo, Frank has been in radio since the age of 19. He began his public radio career at WOI in Ames, Iowa, where he was a magazine show anchor and the station's News Director.
See stories by Frank Stasio
Anita Rao
Anita Rao is the host and creator of "Embodied," a live, weekly radio show and seasonal podcast about sex, relationships & health. She's also the managing editor of WUNC's on-demand content. She has traveled the country recording interviews for the Peabody Award-winning StoryCorps production department, founded and launched a podcast about millennial feminism in the South, and served as the managing editor and regular host of "The State of Things," North Carolina Public Radio's flagship daily, live talk show. Anita was born in a small coal-mining town in Northeast England but spent most of her life growing up in Iowa and has a fond affection for the Midwest.
See stories by Anita Rao