The Hidden Histories Buried In Your Family’s Photo Album

WUNC | By Amanda Magnus,

Frank Stasio

Published August 6, 2019 at 12:04 PM EDT

A woman holds a black-and-white photo of her grandmother.

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Michelle Lanier shared stories of her grandmother's legacy and her family's life in North Carolina.

Courtesy of Digital Diaspora Family Reunion LLC

Thomas Allen Harris, Vickie Jeffries, Morningstar Caviness and Tony Hayes pose with family photos.

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Host Thomas Allen Harris visits the Occaneechi Band of the Saponi Nation at their tribal grounds in North Carolina to share stories from their family photo album.

Courtesy of Digital Diaspora Family Reunion LLC

A woman poses in a picture frame with heritage quilts in the background.

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Jereann King Johnson and the Heritage Quilters shared the family photographs and stories that inspire their quilts.

Courtesy of Digital Diaspora Family Reunion LLC

Warren Brothers and Thomas Allen Harris walk along a dirt road on the farm.

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Thomas Allen Harris visits Warren Brothers at his farm in North Carolina. Warren is best known for his appearances on A Chef's Life TV series.

Courtesy of Digital Diaspora Family Reunion LLC

Members of the Oxford community pose in a picture frame.

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Family Pictures USA took a photo dive with North Carolina's Oxford community.

Courtesy of Digital Diaspora Family Reunion LLC

Thomas Allen Harris, Jaki Shelton Green and Sterling Michael Holt pose with Holt family photos.

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Host Thomas Allen Harris with North Carolina poet laureate Jaki Shelton Green, and her cousin Sterling Michael Holt.

Courtesy of Digital Diaspora Family Reunion LLC

Justin Clapp poses with other drag performers in a picture frame.

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In the heart of Durham, North Carolina, the all-inclusive House of Coxx share photographs that document their family of social justice drag performers.

Courtesy of Digital Diaspora Family Reunion LLC

Family pictures often illustrate everyday milestones — like birthday parties, weddings or family reunions. But they can also illuminate deep and complex stories about communities, values and identity. The new three-part PBS documentary series “Family Pictures USA” follows people from southwest Florida, Detroit and North Carolina as they search to discover what surprising things they can learn from stashed-away images.

The North Carolina episode features the family photos and stories of several communities in the state, including farmers, Native Americans, black entrepreneurs and North Carolina Poet Laureate Jaki Shelton Green.

Host Frank Stasio talks with the show’s creator, executive producer and host Thomas Allen Harris about the power of photo albums passed from one generation to the next. Allen Harris is an artist, filmmaker and a senior lecturer at Yale University in African American Studies and Film and Media. “Family Pictures USA” premieres on UNC-TV on Monday, Aug. 12 at 9 p.m.