Introduction

On this site, I posted a picture (almost) every day, from December 3, 2010 to December 3, 2011. Only 16 days during that period are without pictures. All but two pictures were taken on the day of the post. Sometimes the daily picture represented the day in a larger way; sometimes it was just a picture. Since I posted so often, some pictures are more interesting than others.

After one year of posting a daily picture, I posted pictures less frequently - whenever I had something worth sharing.

After two years of more casual posting, I decided to once again post a daily (or almost daily) picture in 2014.

I'm not a photographer, and most of these pictures were taken with an inexpensive digital camera. A few were taken with a cellphone camera. Click on any picture for a larger view.

Saturday, February 22, 2014

"Race Entertainment"


In addition to being a record collector, I also collect old record catalogs.  Today I found a 1943 Victor/Bluebird catalog in an antique store, and was surprised to find this ridiculously offensive image at the beginning of the section devoted to "race records" - records recorded for and marketed to African-Americans.

For many years the record business had no idea how to market its product to black record buyers; "race music" advertisements from the 1920s and early 30s were rife with insulting caricatures like this.  But this catalog is from 1943.  At a time when black Americans were fighting and dying in World War II, how in the world could RCA Victor think that African-Americans would see this image and feel good about buying Victor records?
Posted by Jeff Crompton at 10:35 PM

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