Where're You Walk (Storefront Churches series) 1958 - 1961

Curator: This gelatin silver print is titled "Where're You Walk," part of the "Storefront Churches" series by Milton Rogovin, created between 1958 and 1961. My initial thought is the contrast of joy and serenity. Editor: I agree. It's a compelling composition—a choir of Black women, mid-song, clapping, hands raised to the heavens, while a young girl sits in the foreground on a folding chair, solemnly clapping too. There is incredible dignity to her gaze, amidst all the praise around her. Curator: Rogovin was known for his social documentary photography. There is a strong symbolism to churches that rose up from within Black communities. These churches existed as the heart of social movements, education and safety from systems in place which created the framework for Black Americans in their daily life. Editor: Absolutely. Contextualizing this within the Black Arts Movement, the image speaks to the empowering and community-centric role these churches played. They became places where cultural identity could be safely asserted and celebrated outside the racial dynamics, prejudice, and the harsh realities of the time. They became their own symbol of agency. Curator: It does suggest a world within a world. And the image itself operates on multiple symbolic registers—the raised hands of the women gesture at collective, ritual transcendence. And you can't help but wonder, looking at the image, if that small girl is inheriting that power. Editor: I think you're spot on, especially knowing how central the church was during the Civil Rights Movement, about to take hold in those years. The photographer captures a moment where faith and community intersect. Curator: And we also glimpse continuity, don’t we? The unbroken symbolic lineage of Black spirituality and the hope in inheriting, protecting, and nourishing that faith. Editor: Agreed. Looking at this photo, one feels acutely the weight of history, community, spirituality. Curator: It's like a glimpse of a turning point captured, a space holding multiple levels of being all at once. Editor: I'm left feeling both hopeful and also deeply respectful of the legacies captured in a simple, striking photograph.