Double Exposure is a major new series based on the remarkable
photography collection supporting the Earl W. and Amanda Stafford Center
for African American Media Arts at the Smithsonian National Museum of
African American History and Culture (NMAAHC). From daguerreotype
portraits taken before the Civil War to twenty-first century digital
prints, this series is a striking visual record of key historical
events, cultural touchstones, and private and communal moments that
helps to illuminate African American life.
In addition to featuring fifty photographs from a broad range of African
American experiences, each thematic volume includes introductions by
some of the leading historians, activists, photographers, and writers of
our times. Many of the images in the series are by famous photographers
such as Spider Martin, Gordon Parks, Ernest C. Withers, Wayne F. Miller,
and Henri Cartier-Bresson. There are also iconic images, such as
McPherson & Oliver's Gordon under Medical Inspection (circa 1867), and
Charles Moore's photographs of the 1963 Birmingham Children's Crusade.
These take their place next to unfamiliar or recently discovered images,
including work by Henry Clay Anderson of everyday life in the black
community in Greenville (MS), during the height of the Jim Crow
segregation laws.
Volume 1: Through the African American Lens is an introduction to the
photography collection, revealing the ways in which African Americans
have used activism, community, and culture to fight for social justice
and create a better life.
Aligned to Common Core Standards
Deborah Willis is an art photographer and university professor and
chair at the Tisch School of the Arts at New York University.
