Through the African American lens

Double exposure is a major new series based on the remarkable photography collection held by the Center for African American Media Arts at the NMAAHC. From pre-Civil War daguerreotype portraits to 21st-century digital prints, this is a striking record of the key historical events, the cultural touchstones and the private and communal moments of African American life. In addition to fifty photographs, each volume includes an introduction by a leading historian, activist, photographer or writer, and a foreword by the NMAAHC's founding director Lonnie Bunch. Photographers include Spider Martin, Gordon Parks, Ernest C. Withers, Wayne F. Miller and Henri Cartier-Bresson. There are iconic images, such as McPherson and Oliver's 'Gordon under medical inspection' (circa 1867) and Charles Moore's photographs of the 1963 Birmingham Children's Crusade, as well as unfamiliar or recently discovered images, including Henry Clay Anderson's postwar pictures of everyday life in the segregated black community in Greenville, Mississippi. Published in association with the Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and Culture, Washington DC.… (more)