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12 Million Black Voices
12 Million Black Voices, first published in 1941, combines Wright's prose with startling photographs selected by Edwin Rosskam from the Security Farm Administration files compiled during the Great Depression. The photographs include works by such giants as Walker Evans, Dorothea Lange, and Arthur Rothstein. From crowded, rundown farm shacks to Harlem storefront churches, the photos depict the lives of black people in 1930s America—their misery and weariness under rural poverty, their spiritual strength, and their lives in northern ghettos. Wright's accompanying text eloquently narrates the story of these 90 pictures and delivers a powerful commentary on the origins and history of black oppression in this country. Also included are new prefaces by Douglas Brinkley, Noel Ignatiev, and Michael Eric Dyson. "Among all the works of Wright, 12 Million Black Voices stands out as a work of poetry, ... passion, ... and of love."—David Bradley "A more eloquent statement of its kind could hardly have been devised."—The New York Times Book Review
166 pages, Paperback
First published February 1, 1969
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About the author
Richard Wright
352 books2,232 followersRichard Nathaniel Wright was an African-American author of powerful, sometimes controversial novels, short stories and non-fiction. Much of his literature concerned racial themes. His work helped redefine discussions of race relations in America in the mid-20th century.
Librarian Note: There is more than one author in the GoodReads database with this name. See this thread for more information.
Librarian Note: There is more than one author in the GoodReads database with this name. See this thread for more information.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 45 reviews
May 20, 2019
Great book, Powerful Images on black America, an FSA (farm security administration) Images of black life in the wake of the Great Migration. There is some strong message portray throughout the book and the uses of photographic images exposing the racial and class conditions. One of the quotes from the book says.
If America has forgotten her past, then let her look into the mirror of our consciousness and she will see the living past living present, for our memories go back, through our black folk of today.
This is a book worth reading by everyone.
If America has forgotten her past, then let her look into the mirror of our consciousness and she will see the living past living present, for our memories go back, through our black folk of today.
This is a book worth reading by everyone.
April 20, 2013
I really enjoyed Wright's writing style and the photographs that accompanied his prose were thought provoking. It was interesting to see the ways in which the narrative and the photos worked together to produce a history that is true and heartbreaking.
Some of Wright's stances and rhetoric were troubling to me, as he clearly didn't value women the same way he valued men, however, I'm willing to overlook it for the most part because of the time period and because it was not starkly offensive - just mildly I suppose, in the way that seeing condescending language regarding women is always disappointing, even when you expect it.
Some of Wright's stances and rhetoric were troubling to me, as he clearly didn't value women the same way he valued men, however, I'm willing to overlook it for the most part because of the time period and because it was not starkly offensive - just mildly I suppose, in the way that seeing condescending language regarding women is always disappointing, even when you expect it.
May 18, 2017
Every word Wright wrote in this novel exists not to be read, but to be soaked up, felt, repeated. His tantalizing prose produces countless quotable passages with meaning too deep to understand without focused reflection. The book is short, but the message is clear, strong.
April 3, 2024
Highly engaging prose and stunning photographs, but I could not get past the Marxist lens through which Wright writes.
July 23, 2017
I love the texture of this book – the language style, the images, the way history is encapsulated – Bosses of the Buildings, Lords of the Lands – all of that. It’s a history, personal and collective, of the transformations of the Great Migration.
It’s interesting how Wright is coming from so clearly a masculine angle. He has this section on Reconstruction and he argues that women did better than men, essentially because they already had a relative position of power in the old slave structure if they could become nannies or mothers to an owner’s children. Through their motherhood, he argues, they had a sense of identity and purpose, whereas men were always denied the opportunity to achieve their gender-based identities. Women therefore “[reigned] as arbiters in our domestic affairs until we men were freed and had moved to cities where cash-paying jobs enabled us to become the heads of our own families” (37). Very interesting taken on the relationship between “freedom,” rhetorically argued to be the natural state of humans, and gender.
He also writes about cotton not as “King Cotton,” but as “Queen Cotton,” because while “[k]ings are dictatorial,”
It’s as if woman in general is a destructive force, spitefully putting men in misery. “The laws of Queen Cotton rule our lives,” he writes (39). And upon reaching the city, living in cramped, filthy, dangerous, and overpriced kitchenettes, he writes in such a way that the kitchenette becomes the culprit for broken single-mother families. The men (and some women), he suggests, are forced by the kitchenette and the horrible conditions that foster “warped personalities” into simply “[giving] up the struggle” (109). I certainly won’t disagree with him that such horrid living conditions and high mortality and crime rates would create multi-generational tragedy – but at least give credit to the mothers for shouldering on! Wright goes on to say that “women are the most circumscribed and tragic objects” in the cities, “triply anchored” because “they are black, they are women, they are workers”; thus they “cling for emotional security and the release of their personalities” by looking toward the church (131). Hm. As men are freed, women are trapped, and vice versa. But at the end, he suggests men’s freedom might lead to the freedom of the whole people, writing, “Men are moving! And we shall be with them…” (147). Or maybe this is another erasure of women in the word “people.”
I also love the inserts of language, music, and poetry, like when he describes the carefully polite dialogue of the black man with the white man and the sharp lines of rhyme that offer rebuttal. And the language of the text itself is beautiful – for instance, the hope and fear mixed together when traveling in non-segregated spaces in the North, in Chicago or elsewhere.
There’s also a lot of important information in here – especially the pitting of races against one another in labor. Not only are poor whites and poor blacks in the South separated along race lines to prevent them from joining along class lines, but the same occurs in Northern industries. Wright lays this down with clear and forceful language, showing just how both blacks and whites are exploited for the wealthy. Asia and Asian immigrants are also fascinating – on the sidelines for the most part, but present enough to affect the class and race relations determining white and black lives. Perhaps this was on Wright’s mind, considering that he wrote this in 1941 as Japan’s “Asia for Asians” colonized much of the Pacific.
His closing chapter is a powerful one. “We black folk, our history and our present being, are a mirror of all the manifold experiences of America. What we want, what we represent, what we endure is what America is” (146). I am inclined, again, to agree with him – I’m quite firmly convinced that race is the history of the United States from top to bottom, and that for two centuries the question has been black/white. But I also have to wonder to what extent the new demographics of America will change that racial narrative in the long run. We can add in brown and yellow to the black part of the equation (as fears about the majority-minority future assume), but is that really just it? “People of color” versus “white people” forever? Or will it change?
It’s interesting how Wright is coming from so clearly a masculine angle. He has this section on Reconstruction and he argues that women did better than men, essentially because they already had a relative position of power in the old slave structure if they could become nannies or mothers to an owner’s children. Through their motherhood, he argues, they had a sense of identity and purpose, whereas men were always denied the opportunity to achieve their gender-based identities. Women therefore “[reigned] as arbiters in our domestic affairs until we men were freed and had moved to cities where cash-paying jobs enabled us to become the heads of our own families” (37). Very interesting taken on the relationship between “freedom,” rhetorically argued to be the natural state of humans, and gender.
He also writes about cotton not as “King Cotton,” but as “Queen Cotton,” because while “[k]ings are dictatorial,”
[c]otton is not only dictatorial but self-destructive, an imperious woman in the throes of constant childbirth, a woman who is driven by her greedy passion to bear endless bales of cotton, though she well knows that she will die if she continues to give birth to her fleecy children! (38)
It’s as if woman in general is a destructive force, spitefully putting men in misery. “The laws of Queen Cotton rule our lives,” he writes (39). And upon reaching the city, living in cramped, filthy, dangerous, and overpriced kitchenettes, he writes in such a way that the kitchenette becomes the culprit for broken single-mother families. The men (and some women), he suggests, are forced by the kitchenette and the horrible conditions that foster “warped personalities” into simply “[giving] up the struggle” (109). I certainly won’t disagree with him that such horrid living conditions and high mortality and crime rates would create multi-generational tragedy – but at least give credit to the mothers for shouldering on! Wright goes on to say that “women are the most circumscribed and tragic objects” in the cities, “triply anchored” because “they are black, they are women, they are workers”; thus they “cling for emotional security and the release of their personalities” by looking toward the church (131). Hm. As men are freed, women are trapped, and vice versa. But at the end, he suggests men’s freedom might lead to the freedom of the whole people, writing, “Men are moving! And we shall be with them…” (147). Or maybe this is another erasure of women in the word “people.”
I also love the inserts of language, music, and poetry, like when he describes the carefully polite dialogue of the black man with the white man and the sharp lines of rhyme that offer rebuttal. And the language of the text itself is beautiful – for instance, the hope and fear mixed together when traveling in non-segregated spaces in the North, in Chicago or elsewhere.
There’s also a lot of important information in here – especially the pitting of races against one another in labor. Not only are poor whites and poor blacks in the South separated along race lines to prevent them from joining along class lines, but the same occurs in Northern industries. Wright lays this down with clear and forceful language, showing just how both blacks and whites are exploited for the wealthy. Asia and Asian immigrants are also fascinating – on the sidelines for the most part, but present enough to affect the class and race relations determining white and black lives. Perhaps this was on Wright’s mind, considering that he wrote this in 1941 as Japan’s “Asia for Asians” colonized much of the Pacific.
His closing chapter is a powerful one. “We black folk, our history and our present being, are a mirror of all the manifold experiences of America. What we want, what we represent, what we endure is what America is” (146). I am inclined, again, to agree with him – I’m quite firmly convinced that race is the history of the United States from top to bottom, and that for two centuries the question has been black/white. But I also have to wonder to what extent the new demographics of America will change that racial narrative in the long run. We can add in brown and yellow to the black part of the equation (as fears about the majority-minority future assume), but is that really just it? “People of color” versus “white people” forever? Or will it change?
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
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September 3, 2008I really enjoyed this book. Wright uses photographs taken during the WPA of Roosevelt's New Deal to write a paean to African Americans leaving the South post-slavery and sharecropping to discover the kitchenettes of Northern cities during the Great Migration. The point of view in the book is written from "We" and the present tense, not "I discovered..." or "I learned that..." or "they", so it reads like a mass of black people describing their various experiences as a part of one larger experience that is ongoing and evolving. He wrote this book shortly after the success of Native Son in 1940, and it's so easy to understand why this book is still a classic today.
July 7, 2008
Wow. Life-changing. Granted I am reading it for grad school, but amazing. For the sheer talent in the photography alone, this book should be picked up. Richard Wright, as amazing as any author, uses words so full of power, one cannot close the book without shedding a tear.
November 4, 2007
interesting use of photos and narrative but wright leaves the women out. forreal. that's why it's a three.
June 18, 2025
Note: This review was generated by generative AI (including some editing) using my book highlights. I agree with the content of the review, which is why I posted it here.
To me, Richard Wright's 12 Million Black Voices is an eloquently written documentary of the conditions Black people endured during and after the Depression. Wright focuses on the Black working class and poor, intentionally leaving out the "talented tenth" and middle-class professionals in order to highlight the experiences of the majority who faced the brunt of economic exploitation and racial oppression during this period. His narrative covers both the historical continuum from slavery through the Depression era and into the early years of urban migration. He brought his talent as a writer and no doubt is reading of Marx and class struggle to give poetic description of the plight of Black people under the brutality of white supremacy.
During the Depression, Black people faced extreme poverty and instability both on Southern lands and in Northern cities. As the cotton market collapsed and landowners grew poor, many Black families were forced out of sharecropping and tenants' farming, often becoming itinerant laborers with little to no security. The economic downturn compounded already devastating conditions, with many being compelled to search for "another place" as plantations failed and owners were replaced by anonymous "Bosses of the Buildings" who controlled more and more of the agricultural industry, often with no regard for those working the land. Curiously though, Wright doesn’t use the words capitalism, racism, or white supremacy in writing. I wonder if that was intentional or was it not a part of his writing style.
Urban migration did not bring relief, but rather a new type of hardship. Black families were crowded into city kitchenettes—often small, squalid one-room units—where living conditions were dire. It was common for five or six people to share a single room, with one toilet serving dozens of tenants. These overcrowded, unsanitary environments bred disease and high infant mortality: twice as many Black babies died compared to white babies in many cities. These kitchenettes were seen not only as traps but as places that "kill our black babies so fast."
Joblessness and insecurity defined the era. Black people arriving in cities faced competition for scarce housing and work with both poor migrant whites and earlier waves of immigrants. Employment opportunities were meager and often segregated; unions frequently excluded Black workers, leaving them to appeal to exploitative bosses for low-wage jobs. White workers, feeling their own living conditions threatened, resented Black newcomers, which deepened racial divisions and made economic and social mobility nearly impossible.
Education was systematically restricted; Southern schools for Black children were deliberately underfunded, and curricula were censored to limit aspirations towards citizenship or upward mobility.
Summing up, Wright describes Black people as "a folk born of cultural devastation, slavery, physical suffering, unrequited longing, abrupt emancipation, migration, disillusionment, bewilderment, joblessness, and insecurity—all enacted within a short space of historical time.” The migration to the city, far from being purely a hopeful escape, often led to new, crushing forms of poverty, and little true security or opportunity.
The Depression was not just an economic crisis for Black Americans—it revealed and deepened the interconnected oppressions of race and class that continued to shape every area of life even after formal slavery had ended. Conditions after the Depression—for most—remained marked by chronic poverty, marginalization, and a relentless struggle for bare survival.
To me, Richard Wright's 12 Million Black Voices is an eloquently written documentary of the conditions Black people endured during and after the Depression. Wright focuses on the Black working class and poor, intentionally leaving out the "talented tenth" and middle-class professionals in order to highlight the experiences of the majority who faced the brunt of economic exploitation and racial oppression during this period. His narrative covers both the historical continuum from slavery through the Depression era and into the early years of urban migration. He brought his talent as a writer and no doubt is reading of Marx and class struggle to give poetic description of the plight of Black people under the brutality of white supremacy.
During the Depression, Black people faced extreme poverty and instability both on Southern lands and in Northern cities. As the cotton market collapsed and landowners grew poor, many Black families were forced out of sharecropping and tenants' farming, often becoming itinerant laborers with little to no security. The economic downturn compounded already devastating conditions, with many being compelled to search for "another place" as plantations failed and owners were replaced by anonymous "Bosses of the Buildings" who controlled more and more of the agricultural industry, often with no regard for those working the land. Curiously though, Wright doesn’t use the words capitalism, racism, or white supremacy in writing. I wonder if that was intentional or was it not a part of his writing style.
Urban migration did not bring relief, but rather a new type of hardship. Black families were crowded into city kitchenettes—often small, squalid one-room units—where living conditions were dire. It was common for five or six people to share a single room, with one toilet serving dozens of tenants. These overcrowded, unsanitary environments bred disease and high infant mortality: twice as many Black babies died compared to white babies in many cities. These kitchenettes were seen not only as traps but as places that "kill our black babies so fast."
Joblessness and insecurity defined the era. Black people arriving in cities faced competition for scarce housing and work with both poor migrant whites and earlier waves of immigrants. Employment opportunities were meager and often segregated; unions frequently excluded Black workers, leaving them to appeal to exploitative bosses for low-wage jobs. White workers, feeling their own living conditions threatened, resented Black newcomers, which deepened racial divisions and made economic and social mobility nearly impossible.
Education was systematically restricted; Southern schools for Black children were deliberately underfunded, and curricula were censored to limit aspirations towards citizenship or upward mobility.
Summing up, Wright describes Black people as "a folk born of cultural devastation, slavery, physical suffering, unrequited longing, abrupt emancipation, migration, disillusionment, bewilderment, joblessness, and insecurity—all enacted within a short space of historical time.” The migration to the city, far from being purely a hopeful escape, often led to new, crushing forms of poverty, and little true security or opportunity.
The Depression was not just an economic crisis for Black Americans—it revealed and deepened the interconnected oppressions of race and class that continued to shape every area of life even after formal slavery had ended. Conditions after the Depression—for most—remained marked by chronic poverty, marginalization, and a relentless struggle for bare survival.
September 14, 2020
Wright's gorgeous narrative about the lives of African-Americans who endured slavery and their descendants up to about the early 1940's takes us through the real struggles and hardships that they faced post-Emancipation and their eventual mass-migration to the cities of the North. The stark photographs mixed with the bluntness of the third person plural narration style sinks readers into the truth of the harsh realities of the African-American population of the late-nineteenth and early-twentieth centuries. History is helpful in learning what things have been like in order to not repeat any mistakes. A lot of the racist sentiments against African-Americans that Wright describes are unfortunately still very much seen today. Reading this book and other narratives like it can help us to understand the political climate of the present and enact change upon the broken systems of our government.
November 16, 2022
This has a very vivid and almost poetical text by Richard Wright. There are many photos, close to one hundred. The quality of photos in this edition was lacking – kind of like they had been photo-copied off an old xerox machine.
It is divided into two parts – the struggle for existence in the Southern States – and then the migration to the urban centres of the North, where Black people then faced discrimination in housing and employment.
The history of slavery - its sordidness and the endless striving the enslaved faced, even after they were “liberated” after the Civil War, is very passionately written.
In the second section, on the movement to the urban North, the writing was less compelling.
As a minor complaint, the back page of the book stated “The photographs include works by… Walker Evans, Dorothy Lange and Arthur Rothstein”. There is only one photograph by Walker Evans, but several by the latter two.
It is divided into two parts – the struggle for existence in the Southern States – and then the migration to the urban centres of the North, where Black people then faced discrimination in housing and employment.
The history of slavery - its sordidness and the endless striving the enslaved faced, even after they were “liberated” after the Civil War, is very passionately written.
In the second section, on the movement to the urban North, the writing was less compelling.
As a minor complaint, the back page of the book stated “The photographs include works by… Walker Evans, Dorothy Lange and Arthur Rothstein”. There is only one photograph by Walker Evans, but several by the latter two.
June 29, 2020
Written by Richard Wright in 1941. In this book, Richard Wright speaks for the millions of blacks who were in search of something better in life and was willing to go to any extreme to get it. Richard Wright tells of what it was like for millions of black to migrate to the North (or out of the South) to leave one form of slavery only to encounter other forms of slavery. He focuses on the three classes of men. Some things Wright mention's in this book hold true today. Not all black people are poor, a few of us do have money, many of us have managed to send our children to colleges and some of our children are professional businessmen and women. Some of us own small businesses and other devote their lives to law and medicine. This is a very informative book and I think everyone should read this not just people of color.
March 26, 2021
I obtained this 1941 book through inter-library loan because I wanted to see the Farm Security Administration photos detailing the Great Migration. The research and writing of Richard Wright were the marvelous discovery of this book. The forwards, and some of Wright's writing, understandably have moments of feeling dated. That issue is a mild counterpoint to the compelling relevance of this book, which resonates and illuminates the challenges of life today.
Wright's lyrical and systematic analysis of the ongoing economic oppression of Blacks in the US is so much clearer and more compelling than any history book I have read in formal education. I highly recommend this book, which is also available in a free pdf online.
Wright's lyrical and systematic analysis of the ongoing economic oppression of Blacks in the US is so much clearer and more compelling than any history book I have read in formal education. I highly recommend this book, which is also available in a free pdf online.
October 3, 2022
Wonderful short read. I found the last half especially helpful, where he gives a detailed picture of the life that millions of southern black migrants in the first half of the century found in the cities where they sought freedom. It was anything but the freedom and promised land they yearned for and, though originally published in 1941, the consequences live on today. This would be a good, easy read for those seeking to help their high school age children gain a better understanding of the life experience of our black neighbors.
June 1, 2023
Heartfelt. The writings of Richard Wright hits you hard and tell the core truth of the greatness of America, 'it lays on the skulls, bones and flesh of black lives. The scars and agony of torture were the goals of 'moving ahead or progression' for whites, but it was a downfall of humanity and African lives. An essential read to understand the tyranny of 'Making America Great' by throwing humanity in the firepot, and to understand the African-American writings through their experience. It's a book with real images of African people, which strikes hard.
December 16, 2022
A superbly eloquent and enlightening review of Black History from slavery up until the time of publication, Wright shows through this piece as I’m sure he as others, that he is a master. Using his own vernacular and the validity of his own experience, he tells all from the eyes of the Black American. Much of it reads like prose poetry, and the photographs are unforgettable.
October 30, 2025
Book I had to read for school- was actually so interesting and brought up so many misconceptions that are spread about American history. Learned so much about the North vs South in regards to slavery and how the perspective of the North being this safe haven was actually not necessarily the case. Really cool format, basically a mix of a novel and photos that brought the narrative to life.
September 14, 2018
Wow! One of the coolest works of nonfiction I've ever read. It's a photo essay told in an almost poetic style. The prose is amazing and the message was powerful. Really opens your eyes to the lives of black people at the time. Great book.
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October 17, 2021I read this book for school and I think it was a good look into black peoples lives in American during the Great Depression. I loved the pictures throughout as well. Putting words to pictures really helps you grasp what Wright is trying to tell the reader.
December 8, 2017
Good historical read, kinda boring
November 5, 2018
Could have been written today, especially about the "invasion"
February 19, 2020
An easy read with a deeper aspect and an almost musical quality.
December 3, 2020
Beautiful photographs and poetry
December 31, 2021
A narrative picture book about the Great Migration. A quick read and very worthwhile.
January 14, 2022
Powerfully moving book with text by Richard Wright and photos from the Farm Security Administration. Snapshots of the lives of black people in the mid twentieth century.
March 12, 2023
thought provoking and powerful
October 5, 2023
Truly poetic. Wrights use of language is really unmatched. He draws the connection between capitalism and the Black struggle in a poignant manner.
January 27, 2024
I questioned some of the statistics quoted early in the book. I found the prose to be rambling.
November 13, 2024
Narrative poetry format with photos telling true stories of the Black folks in history and what they endured and what joys they have within their families and community.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 45 reviews