Scotland Photo Gallery

This photo gallery is comprised of images from the community of Scotland in the late 1960s, at that time an all-African-American community of people  that underwent a years-long process of reclaiming their land and rebuilding their infrastructure. The images were digitized from a collection of negatives within a donation of records kept by Joyce Siegel, who had worked with the Scotland community during this time period. Joyce's husband Alan was an avid amateur photographer, and took hundreds of photos of the events happening in Scotland between 1966 and 1970. While newspaper coverage at the time succeeded in bringing the needs of Scotland to the public's attention, it often failed to portray the place itself as anything other than empty dilapidated houses in need of rehabilitation. In contrast, Alan Siegel's day-to-day perspective brings the people of 1960s Scotland  to life and shows clearly that Scotland was never defined by dwellings or mud puddles or the water pump, but has been  about the people who call it home.

The  themed pages are arranged in chronological order, from photos of the Scotland AME Zion Church taken in 1966, to the completion of a portion of the new housing in 1969 and the groundbreaking for a second subdivision in 1970. Events include after-school activities for children and teens, gatherings of the community, and ceremonies involved in the construction process.

Use the menu bar above to navigate the different pages on this site. There are also buttons at the bottom of each page to continue through the exhibit chronologically.

Special thank you to Edgar Dove, Cheryl Harris, Deborah Young, Francine Scott, Florence (Henderson) Waters, and Joyce Siegel,  for their invaluable contributions to identifying the people, places, and events depicted in this collection of photographs. This project would have been impossible without their willing collaboration and the generous donation of their time and knowledge.