These sepia-tone photos of women, children, and men in the African American community of Columbia, South Carolina, in the 1920s and 1930s, make you wonder about their daily lives and their dreams.

There are pictures of baseball teams and fancy cars, of weddings and funerals and college graduations, but mostly Roberts photographed people in his studio ("That's where people posed, most times in their Sunday-go-to-meetin' clothes"). Some of the commentary seems aimed at very young children ("Is this a pet chicken?"), but even older kids and adults will pore over the eloquent pictures. Many may go from here to find the stories in their own family albums. -Booklist-