Isaiah Rice (1917 – 1980) was an American photographer whose photographs document the people and neighborhoods of

Asheville Asheville ( ) is a city in, and the county seat of, Buncombe County, North Carolina. Located at the confluence of the French Broad and Swannanoa rivers, it is the largest city in Western North Carolina, and the state's 11th-most populous cit ...

in western

North Carolina North Carolina () is a state in the Southeastern region of the United States. The state is the 28th largest and 9th-most populous of the United States. It is bordered by Virginia to the north, the Atlantic Ocean to the east, Georgia and So ...

. Rice is credited with providing some of the few known representations of Black

Appalachia Appalachia () is a cultural region in the Eastern United States that stretches from the Southern Tier of New York State to northern Alabama and Georgia. While the Appalachian Mountains stretch from Belle Isle in Newfoundland and Labrador, Ca ...

n communities from a Black Appalachian perspective.

Biography

Rice was born in

Asheville, North Carolina Asheville ( ) is a city in, and the county seat of, Buncombe County, North Carolina. Located at the confluence of the French Broad and Swannanoa rivers, it is the largest city in Western North Carolina, and the state's 11th-most populous cit ...

, and attended Stephens-Lee High School. He worked for the

Works Progress Administration The Works Progress Administration (WPA; renamed in 1939 as the Work Projects Administration) was an American New Deal agency that employed millions of jobseekers (mostly men who were not formally educated) to carry out public works projects, i ...

(WPA) during the Great Depression. Rice served in

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

and was a member of St. Paul's Missionary Baptist Church in West Asheville. He died in 1980 from a heart attack.

Photographs

Rice's photographs include family and friends, his church, schoolchildren, pets, still lifes, portraits, parades, street life, and men and women at work. Rice has been described as an "urban folk photographer" because he documented everyday events and people in his community. In 2015, Rice's daughter, Mrs. Marian Rice Waters, and his grandson, Darin Waters, Ph.D. donated a collection of Rice's photographs to UNC Asheville's Special Collections to be digitized, archived, and selectively exhibited. The online collection is available through UNC Asheville's Special Collections
Isaiah Rice Photograph Collection
" The collection highlights communities of Asheville, NC, such as Burton Street and Shiloh. According to Waters, "the collection demonstrates the African-American experience through the eyes of a 'very middle-class,' forward-thinking family."

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Rice, Isaiah 1917 births 1980 deaths African-American photographers African-American history in Appalachia Artists from Asheville, North Carolina 20th-century American photographers 20th-century African-American artists