Child, Pimville, Soweto

Child, Pimville, South-Western Townships, 1948. Photographic image a young girl holding a broom. In the background are settlements with women and children sitting in front. This is located in Pimville area, South-Western Townships now known as Soweto, near Johannesburg. Photograph by Constance Stuart Larrabee, 1948.

In 1945, Constance Stuart returned from her assignment as the first female South African war correspondent in World War II. Her reputation as a photographer grew. She maintained a photographic studio in Pretoria and Johannesburg. This series of images which she entitled "Johannesburg Black Man" depict life in downtown Johannesburg and in parts of the city, where Black South Africans lived, such as Sophiatown, Pimville, and Newclare. A second series of images focuses on Father Huddleston's work in Sophiatown. In 1948-1949, in the early days of apartheid, Stuart documented the building of the South Western townships (Soweto) and the way Africans adjusted to this new environment.

There are four 8x10 black and white fiber based prints and one 8x10 black and white vintage print of this negative in the Constance Stuart Larrabee Collection. EEPA also produced an 8x10 study print for reference purposes.