Leaving the South

This thesis takes a poststructuralist approach to the Historical Section’s photography project that took place from 1935 until 1943, which means that the approach assumes that visual representations that claim truthfulness are socially constructed through powerful discourses. To what extent did the Historical Section (1935-1943) succeed in their mission to document and represent the American reality and particularly the domestic (great) migration? To answer this question five sets of sub questions will be answered. First, three transformations of American society are described to put the project in its historical context. The second set is to do with the Historical Section’s mission to document American reality. Third, the modes of distribution are examined. These three chapters combined showcase how the truth claims made by the Historical Section were constructed. The fourth set of questions delves into the popular narratives dominating public discourse of the time and concerned with domestic migration. The last set highlights the possible omissions of the certain themes and problems by the Historical Section to determine to what extent the documentative mission can be considered successful.