Alabama Photo: A Barn in 1935 by Walker Evans

Walker Evans is one of the most famous American documentary photographers of the 20th century. He made at least two trips to Alabama during the Great Depression as he traveled through America taking photographs. This barn photo was taken in December 1935. His best known visit to the state came in the summer of 1936 when he and writer James Agee travelled from New York to Hale County to document the lives of sharecropping families. That effort eventually resulted in one of the best-known books ever written about Alabama, Let Us Now Praise Famous Men. During that summer the two men visited other parts of the state as well. I've written several blog posts about Evans' Alabama photos of a cemetery, two stores, and an advertisement for J.C. Lincoln's Sunny South Minstrels. I've also discussed his shots of the abandoned town of Advance and some of his 1936 photos in Birmingham. The photo below features cigarette and tobacco ads on the side of the barn. Such advertising on barns was common…