Reflections in Black

A History of Black Photographers, 1840 to the Present

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by Deborah Willis,

Introduction by Robin D. G. Kelley

W. W. Norton and Co.

Due/Published June 2000, 352 pages, cloth

ISBN 0393048802

A celebration of the power of family, endurance, spirituality, and the diverse range of the African American experience over the last two centuries. Reflections in Black, the first comprehensive history of black photographers, is Deborah Willis's long-awaited book of photographs of African American life from 1840 to the present. Willis, a curator of photography at the Smithsonian Institution, has selected nearly 600 images that give us glimpses of black life, from slavery to the Great Migrations, from rare antebellum portraits to 1990s middle-class families. Features the work of undisputed masters such as James Presley Ball, C. M. Battey, James VanDerZee, Morgan and Marvin Smith, Gordon Parks, Moneta Sleet, Jr., and Carrie Mae Weems, among hundreds of others, Reflections in Black is, most powerfully, a refutation of the gross caricature of the many mainstream photographers who have continually emphasized poverty over family, despair over hope. Publication will coincide and tie in with a major exhibition at The Smithsonian Institution in Washington, DC. 571 duotones, 32 color