Old Church,

1931–46

In documenting poverty and segregation in the American South, Woodruff exploited the stark linearity of the linocut medium to stage expressive, graphic vignettes with African American protagonists. <em>Sunday Promenade</em> and <em>Old Church</em> depict scenes of social and spiritual gathering for the African American community. These glimpses into the South take a cruel turn in <em>Giddap</em>, a lynching scene that reflects the ghastly spike in racist violence during the Great Depression. Woodruff was working for the Works Progress Administration (WPA), a New Deal program employing artists to create images of America throughout the country; he saw art as a means to “convey a telling quality in terms of what we are as a people.”