This photographer captured the middle class people of Harlem with his pictures.
by Rich Watson
James Van Der Zee was a portrait photographer in Harlem during a time in America when blacks migrated north, to Washington, DC and Philadelphia, and west, to Detroit and Chicago, to escape the racism of the south and gain a better standard of living. New York, and Harlem, was the major destination for many.
Van Der Zee was there to capture them on film.
