Bell, Malcolm, 1913-2001

Malcolm Bell Jr. (1913-2001), photographer, historian, and bank president, was born in Savannah, Georgia, in 1913. In 1939, at the age of twenty-six, Bell and his wife, Muriel Barrow Bell, became involved with the Savannah Unit of the Georgia Writers' Project, a Works Progress Administration program, to interview and photograph coastal Georgia blacks who were of African descent. Under the leadership of Mary Granger, the Savannah Unit interviewed ca. one hundred thirty-four people in twenty locations. Malcolm and Muriel Bell served as the photographers. The results of this project were published in 1940 and entitled DRUMS AND SHADOWS: SURVIVAL STUDIES AMOUNG THE COASTAL GEORGIA NEGROES (Athens: University of Georgia Press). It was reprinted in 1986.

Malcolm Bell, Jr. (1913-2001) was a banker and businessman in Savannah, Georgia. He was very involved in civic, philanthropic, and cultural affairs and served two terms as president of the Georgia Historical Society. N. Jane Iseley worked as a photographer and has several books about Savannah, Georgia and the South Carolina low country that contain her work.

Malcolm Bell, Jr. was born to a prominent Savannah, Georgia family in 1913. He graduated from Savannah High School and attended the University of North Carolina and the Stonier School of Banking. He served as a Coast Guard officer during World War II. In 1964, Bell was elected president of Savannah Bank and Trust Company where he later served as chairman. Bell has been active in many Savannah organizations including the Oglethorpe Club, the Union Society, Industrial Committee of the Savannah District Authority, the Park and Tree Commission, Christ Church and the Episcopal Diocese of Georgia. He is a past president of the Savannah Chamber of Commerce, former chairman of the Savannah Port Authority, and served as the President of the Georgia Historical Society from 1974-1978. In 1982, Bell was honored by the Savannah chapter of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People with a Freedom Fund award for his leadership of a citizens' committee focusing on Savannah's racial problems. Bell received a Governor's Awards in the Humanities in 1991. Bell married Muriel Barrow on 23 July 1936. Together, they collaborated on an assignment by the Works Progress Administration in 1939 documenting African Americans in coastal Georgia through photographs. The results appear in the book Drums and Shadows, published in1940. Bell also authored numerous articles and several other books, including Savannah, Ahoy! and Major Butler's Legacy.