Picturing Us

Deborah Willis is curator of exhibitions at the National African American Museum Project of the Smithsonian Institute. Her previous books include Early Black Photographers: 1840 to 1940 and VanDerZee: Photographer 1886–1983. She lives in Washington, D.C.

• Part 1 Visual memories: when you meet Estella Smart, you been met!, Vertamae Smart-Grosvenor; a Sunday portrait, Edward P. Jones; in our glory - photography and black life, bell hooks; in my father's house there were no images, E. Ethelbert Miller. Part 2 Reflecting colour: gazing coloured - a family album, Christian Walker; grandmother's face and the legacy of Pomegranate Hall, Adele Logan Alexander; my grandmother died last night, Lise Hamiton. Part 3 Reinterpreting visual memories: the plaintiff speaks, Clarissa T. Sligh; finding a space for myself in my film about colour conscousness, Kathe Sandler; affirmative action and the white backlash - notes from a child of Apartheid, Luke Charles Harris. Part 4 Personal and cultural images in a critical context: the erotic image is naked and dark, Carla Williams; mug shot - suspicious person, Claudine K. Brown; the continuing drama of African American images in American cinema, St Clair Bourne; how come nobody told me about the lynching?, Jacquie Jones; hard core poverty, Paul A. Rogers; Afro images - politics, fashion, and nostalgia, Angela Y. Davis; making noise - Marcus Garvey Dada, August 1922, Robert A. Hill.

"A rare book [that] encourages us to look deeply into images of ourselves and carefully select what we accept as truth." —Quarterly Black Review"Eighteen stimulating essays. . . . A worthy dialogue on an under-analyzed aspect of black history." —Publishers Weekly"The importance of this collection of photographs and accompanying essays. . . cannot be overemphasized." —Belles Lettres"The photographs alone. . . merit a trip to the bookstore. . . . One feels prodded to contemplate the interconnectedness of African American identity and visual images in unconventional, enlightening ways." — Emerge