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It's been said that a picture is worth a thousand words and, if that old adage is true, then Asbury Park native Madonna Carter Jackson has a wealth of words indeed. Carter Jackson's recent book, Asbury Park: A West Side Story , is a selection of about 200 black-and-white photographs selected from more than 15,000 negatives taken by her father, the late Joseph A. Carter, Sr. who died in 1980. Carter Sr. opened his photography studio on Springwood Avenue around 1940 and began to photographically document much of the rich history of Asbury Park 's vibrant West Side community for the next 40 years. “Basically every photograph in the book is from a time in the black community that was supposed to be a world worse than it is today: when wages were low, opportunities limited, and various labels attached to people. I want this book to be a display to stimulate the true and good memories of that past and to open eyes that seem to be closed about that past,” Carter Jackson said. Photographs in the 244-page book document many of the stores, events, musical scenes, and employees on the West Side during the 40-year period. “Black people in Asbury Park worked hard, played hard, and always looked good. The most beautiful dresses you'll ever see,” Carter Jackson writes in the book. Carter Jackson, who is 58 and now lives in Columbia , South Carolina , said she has been caring for the thousands of negatives over the years, even as she moved several times to different states. “The photographs are not only my family's heritage but also the heritage of a community as well, she said. “Every club, organization, or event that happened on the West Side- my father was there with his camera. I had no idea the community would latch on to the book like it did.” |
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Carter Jackson, Madonna. Asbury Park: A West Side Story . $29.95. Softcover, 244 pages. A selection of about 200 black-and-white photographs taken by Joseph A. Carter Sr.- a longtime Asbury Park photographer who chronicled much of the city's West Side history from around 1940 through the next forty years. The photographs are culled by Carter's daughter, Madonna, from the family archive of more than 15,000 photographs. A follow-up volume is expected soon. A long over-due volume about the city's historic West Side. |
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