Browse Primary Sources

Subject is exactly John L. Spivak

"Documentary Photographs in John L. Spivak's Odd Amalgam of Investigative Reporting and Fictional Portrayal of Chain Gangs in 1930's Georgia" - Ronald E. Ostman and Berkley Hudson

"At ground level, the camera's eye looks into the face of a prisoner, hogtied and on hard-packed dirt. Ropes bind his hands. Straps and ropes wrap his legs. A pickaxe shoved between his arms and the backs of his knees tightens the punishment. With discomfort, he rests his close-shorn head on the dirt. He wears torn, black-and-white convict stripes. If there was a hell on earth in 1930 and 1932, then investigative journalist John Louis Spivak depicted it with a novel based on his reporting. Using straightforward photographs to authenticate Georgia Nigger, Spivak attempted to sear into the national consciousness the brutal image of chain gangs of the American South. . ."

Visual Communication Quarterly  2006-01-01

"A Desire to End These Things" - Ronald E. Ostman and Berkley Hudson - Visual Communication Quarterly

"As investigative journalist and photographer John L. Spivak rode in a taxi from the train station for his first visit to a Georgia convict camp, he could see a prisoner undergo torture. . .With a Kodak dangling from a strap around his neck and with pockets 'filled with roles of film,' Spivak exited the taxi. Straightaway, he took pictures without permission. Then, a guard pointed a shotgun at Spivak. After an angry exchange, Spivak handed him an introductory letter from Gerogia's prison commissioner. . ."

Visual Communication Quarterly  2009-10-01

"The Odd Amalgam: John L. Spivak's 1932 Photographs, Undercover Reporting, and Fiction in 'Georgia Nigger'" - Ronald E. Ostman and Berkley Hudson

"Lincoln Steffens, who generally is cited as the first muckraking journalist, called John L. Spivak 'the best of us.' Spivak, among many progressive and muckraking writers of America's early 20th century who might have competed for the honor, was labeled by some of his contemporaries as 'the best reporter...in the whole United STates at the present moment,' 'America's greatest newspaper man,' 'one of the alertest reporters alive,' and 'greatest reporter since Lincoln Steffens' . . ."

Visual Communication Quarterly  2006-06-20