Reflections In Black: A History of Black Photographers 1840 To The Present by Deborah Willis is phenomenal. Though I get excited about any photography book I read, whether I read it to examine and study photographs, to understand a particular era of history, to understand a particular genre of photography or one on the business of photography, reading this book was the epitome of excitement. First of all, I love cultural history. Second, I love to examine how photographs themselves are relevant throughout time. Willis provides insight into some of the pioneers among Black photographers, as well as insight into more popular ones amidst the Diaspora, such as Gordon Parks, Chester Higgins, Jr. and Roy DeCarava. However, this book does not just toot the horns of the greats that most learned photographers already know about, such as the aforementioned three. Willis, in fact, creates a historical map (from the daguerreotype to digital, from black and white to a blossom of colour, from newly freedmen to free men [and women...I counted over 30 mentioned, yay!]) of how the photographic image of and by Black people in America is truly relevant and American history. Black history IS American history.
Robin G. Kelley wrote the foreword for the book and writes:
"The same photographic technology responsible for the circulation of minstrel caricatures, of dim-witted watermelon eating Negroes, of alleged African cannibals, of happy-go-lucky darkies whose lives revolved around dice and razors, was used to create counter images of African-American life--images of dignity, pride, success and beauty."
This is truly meaningful. The same tool used for hate can be used for love. The same tool used to obscure truths can be used to expose. The same tool used to oppress can be used to liberate. This is what the camera truly became for many Black photographers telling stories about Black lives. And, these stories were not always conveyed through photojournalism, a genre that is definitely held in higher regard than some consumer photography such as portraits and weddings. Think of what a wedding photograph meant to a generation only a single generation removed from slavery, as Willis discusses early in the book. Who could argue the significance of such an image and even try to juxtapose it to the photojournalism that became more common decades later? Something as simple as a portrait could convey a dignity and character that no White-owned media source may have wanted to reveal a Black person to have at the time...one that arguably is not revealed as much as it should be today.
This quote below from one of the photographers that Willis discusses really summarizes how I think about photography in terms of the "what camera" obsession that some of my peers have:
"The camera does not matter; it is only a tool. What is important is the ability to transform an instance, a moment into a meaningful, expressive, and profound statement, some of which a personal, someone which have a symbolic and universal meaning." ~ Earlie Hundall
I encourage every photographer to read this book. I even tweeted that it is MANDATORY. Hehe. It truly should be. It tells the story of generations who rarely created a photograph that was "just" a photograph. A photograph is rarely just a digital image or print. It's more. Thinking about photography as an interpretive language, as an art to convey history, as a tool of liberation is powerful and readily realistic when reading this book. It's truly a spiritual experience.
To close, more of my favorite quotes from the book:
"Somebody, somewhere, wants your photograph." ~ Allen Edward Cole
"You develop the discipline to block out everything but you, the camera and the subject..." ~ Monetta Sleet, Jr.
"For paint brush and palette he used a lens and shutter." ~ editorial on C.M. Battey, hired as photog division director at Tuskegee in 1916.
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