Image of five rows of men sitting and standing in a large room of the Maceo No.8 Elks Lodge. Banners, elk heads and pictures on the wall in the background. Banner to the right: MACEO NO. 8 I.B.P.O.E.W. (sic) JACKSONVILLE FLA. No date given.

This is one of 156 black and white photographs by R. Lee Thomas, an African American photographer active in the early twentieth century in the southern United States. Thomas’ work provides photographic documentation of southern black social life, primarily religious and labor groups, circa 1946-1949. The majority of the photographs depict groups from Birmingham, Alabama, and adjacent areas. His imprint contains the caption: Made by R. Lee Thomas, Mound Bayou, Mississippi, The Oldest Negro Town in America.