A photograph of a Black family with six children in 1936 can make us pause because the picture may look peaceful and happy, while the historical environment surrounding that family was anything but peaceful.
In 1936, African Americans in the United States were living under Jim Crow segregation, particularly in the South. Laws and social practices restricted where Black people could live, work, study, travel, eat and even access public facilities. Racial violence and discrimination were real and sometimes deadly.
Yet Black families survived—and often created remarkably strong communities—through family, faith, work, education, cooperation and cultural pride.
How could a family with six children survive?
1. The family itself was a survival institution.
Parents, grandparents, siblings, cousins and extended relatives often depended upon one another. Children were not raised only by their parents; the wider community could help with food, childcare, work and protection.
2. They worked incredibly hard.
Many Black families worked in agriculture, domestic service, construction, transportation, factories, trades and small businesses. Economic opportunities were restricted, but African Americans nevertheless built businesses, owned homes and developed professional careers.
3. They built their own institutions.
Black churches, schools, newspapers, mutual-aid societies, fraternal organizations and businesses became important pillars of community life. These institutions provided not only religion or education but also social support and a sense of dignity.
4. Education was considered a pathway to freedom.
Despite inferior and segregated schools in many places, Black communities placed enormous value on education. Teachers, parents and churches encouraged children to learn because education could open doors that racism attempted to close.
5. Some families moved away from the worst conditions.
The Great Migration moved millions of African Americans from the rural South to Northern, Midwestern and Western cities between roughly 1910 and 1970. Many were seeking jobs, education, safety and greater personal freedom.
But moving north did not mean escaping racism completely. Housing discrimination, segregation and racial hostility continued in many Northern cities.
And there is something particularly beautiful about that photograph
The six children may tell us something beyond their individual identities.
They are evidence of survival.
The parents were raising children in a country that did not always recognize their full humanity or equality, yet they dressed their children, fed them, protected them, educated them, loved them and stood together for the photograph.
That is why historical photographs of African American families from this period are so important. They allow us to see Black life beyond the history of oppression—families laughing, loving, working, worshipping, celebrating, building homes and imagining a future.
The Library of Congress, for example, preserves thousands of photographs and oral histories documenting ordinary African American family and community life during this period. The Federal Writers’ Project also collected first-person accounts during 1936–1940, including information about family, education, occupation, income, religion and daily life.
So when you look at that family, rather than asking only “How did they survive?”, I think there is another powerful question:
“What kind of courage, love and determination did it take for these parents to raise six children and give them hope in America in 1936?”
That photograph is not simply a picture of a Black family.
It is a picture of resilience.
It is a picture of dignity.
It is a picture of resistance through living.
And, perhaps most importantly, it is a picture of hope.