Participation Type
Paper
Session Title
Session 4.04 Social Conditions
Presentation #1 Title
Images of Sensitivity and Respect: the War on Poverty Photographs of Warren Brunner in Eastern Kentucky and More Broadly Appalachia.
Presentation #1 Abstract or Summary
NOTE: Please schedule this paper on the same panel with the one proposed by Susan Isaacs, Union College! The papers complement each other by examining different aspects of Warren Brunner’s work. Summary: The purpose of this presentation is to explore Warren Brunner’s black-and-white photography. His images present the vitality of southeastern Kentucky during the 1960s and 1970s. His photographs raise issues of what constitutes eastern Kentucky and more largely Appalachia, as well as the deeper implications of the 1960s/War on Poverty movement. Abstract: Warren Brunner’s black-and-white photography presents the vitality of southeastern Kentucky during the 1960s and 1970s. Working in this era of the War on Poverty, Brunner was hired by non-profit and government agencies to chronicle the efforts devoted to improving local conditions. Shooting and developing thousands of images of rural Kentucky, photojournalist and documentarian Warren Brunner sensitively explored the lives of locals in their homes, farms, schools, stores, and factories. Only taken after extended visiting, Brunner’s photographs illustrate people comfortable in their milieu. Emblematic of his commitment to the area, he compared his images of the same locale taken twenty years apart, thus chronicling changes. In addition, Brunner carefully noted the location of his photographs allowing one to link these images to the counties in eastern Kentucky and more broadly Appalachia. This information led to the development of new maps to show the connection of Warren Brunner’s images to Eastern Kentucky and more broadly the Appalachian Mountains. The purpose of this presentation is to explore the larger issues that these photographs raise in terms of what constitutes Appalachia, as well as the deeper implications of the 1960s/War on Poverty movement. There are important lessons for the current efforts of the SOAR program to improve eastern Kentucky. This presentation profits from historical and archival research that also helped to shape the recent Union College exhibit -- No War on Dignity: Exploring the War on Poverty photographs of Warren Brunner. This paper will include maps and Brunner photographs not in the exhibit.
At-A-Glance Bio- Presenter #1
Hugo A. Freund is professor of the Social and Behavioral Sciences at Union College in Barbourville, Ky. He teaches such courses as Appalachian culture, Introduction to Appalachian studies, and sociology of Appalachia. He also teaches courses that examine the diversity of peoples in Appalachia, as well as feuds, fights and violence in Appalachia. He has published on the writings of Silas House.
Images of Sensitivity and Respect: the War on Poverty Photographs of Warren Brunner in Eastern Kentucky and More Broadly Appalachia.
NOTE: Please schedule this paper on the same panel with the one proposed by Susan Isaacs, Union College! The papers complement each other by examining different aspects of Warren Brunner’s work. Summary: The purpose of this presentation is to explore Warren Brunner’s black-and-white photography. His images present the vitality of southeastern Kentucky during the 1960s and 1970s. His photographs raise issues of what constitutes eastern Kentucky and more largely Appalachia, as well as the deeper implications of the 1960s/War on Poverty movement. Abstract: Warren Brunner’s black-and-white photography presents the vitality of southeastern Kentucky during the 1960s and 1970s. Working in this era of the War on Poverty, Brunner was hired by non-profit and government agencies to chronicle the efforts devoted to improving local conditions. Shooting and developing thousands of images of rural Kentucky, photojournalist and documentarian Warren Brunner sensitively explored the lives of locals in their homes, farms, schools, stores, and factories. Only taken after extended visiting, Brunner’s photographs illustrate people comfortable in their milieu. Emblematic of his commitment to the area, he compared his images of the same locale taken twenty years apart, thus chronicling changes. In addition, Brunner carefully noted the location of his photographs allowing one to link these images to the counties in eastern Kentucky and more broadly Appalachia. This information led to the development of new maps to show the connection of Warren Brunner’s images to Eastern Kentucky and more broadly the Appalachian Mountains. The purpose of this presentation is to explore the larger issues that these photographs raise in terms of what constitutes Appalachia, as well as the deeper implications of the 1960s/War on Poverty movement. There are important lessons for the current efforts of the SOAR program to improve eastern Kentucky. This presentation profits from historical and archival research that also helped to shape the recent Union College exhibit -- No War on Dignity: Exploring the War on Poverty photographs of Warren Brunner. This paper will include maps and Brunner photographs not in the exhibit.
