From his dignified representations of African Americans -- in crisis in floods and in daily life at work -- we can establish that Coovert did not view African Americans through a Jim Crow lens. And that although his most famous photographs show only African Americans working in cotton, in his imaginative work he created what we would now call an "integrated" work force -- one that in fact existed on many plantations in the Delta.

We have one more piece of evidence that Coovert chose an ethical relationship with African Americans: When he died, he willed his entire shop to his black assistant, John Nevels.

Coovert's importance

We first became interested in J.C. Coovert simply because he made extraordinary photographs, and we're interested in photographs. However, we became aware that he had a reputation that went far beyond the Delta., appearing, among other places, in Harper's Weekly and around the world.

His images still circulate among postcard collectors, as you have seen.

J.C. Coovert created an iconography of the Cotton South that resonated widely. Notably, it was a vision of African Americans as working members of a dynamic society.

His ethical sensibilities made him the "dean" and "Judge Landis" of Memphis photographers and, perhaps, led him to give his shop to his black assistant. They also infused his aesthetic vision, giving him an eye that seems as unique today as it did a hundred years ago.