John Johnson stood in a self-portrait—possibly a wedding portrait—with his wife, Odessa. (John Johnson / Courtesy Douglas Keister / NMAAHC, SI)

John Johnson stood in a self-portrait—possibly a wedding portrait—with his wife, Odessa. (John Johnson / Courtesy Douglas Keister / NMAAHC, SI)

Lost and Found Again: Photos of African-Americans on the Plains, Nebraska

Douglas Keister, bought a box of glass negatives that featured portraits of the city’s small African-American population from the 1910s and ’20s, an era from which few other photos survived. As Keister and Zimmer scrutinized the portraits, they began to see something else emerge: an untold story of what historians call the new negro movement. Following World War I, African-American writers, musicians, artists and academics across the country sought to promote confidence, dignity and self-expression—a movement that would blossom into the Harlem Renaissance. Johnson’s portraits, they realized, were part of the same intellectual current. His subjects were formally posed and dressed in their best, and they often held books to show that they were educated. “Up until then, many photos of African-Americans showed the plight of the poor,” Keister says. “These photos are elevating. They’re ennoblin