Smithsonian’s National Museum of African American History and Culture Presents New Book in Series Based on Photography Collection

Photography has served a crucial role in providing a visual record of African American history. “Double Exposure” is a major multivolume series based on the National Museum of African American History and Culture’s (NMAAHC) photography collection. The photography showcases a striking visual account of key historical events, cultural touchstones and private and communal moments to illuminate African American life.

The fourth and newest book in the series, Picturing Children, features a diverse selection of photographs: spontaneous records of intimate family moments, posed portraits and young people engaged in playtime, communal activities and public protest. Photographers include Henry Clay Anderson, Nina Leen, Jamel Shabazz, Wayne F. Miller, Joe Schwartz, Jamel Shabazz and Milton Williams. The book includes short reflections on individual photographs, which explore how the images speak not only to past experiences of African American youth, but also to the evolving concepts of childhood, youth engagement in American society and the future.

“In this collection of more than 50 images of children, we catch glimpses of African American life, past and present that prompt us to consider our responsibilities to youth not only as a moral obligation, but as an essential venture in shaping our future,” said Lonnie Bunch, director of NMAAHC.

The first volume in the “Double Exposure” series, Through the African American Lens, is an introduction to the collection, revealing the ways in which African Americans have engaged in activism, sustained communities and created culture to live life with dignity. Civil Rights and the Promise of Equality, the second volume, commemorates the ongoing fight to fulfil the promise of freedom and equality for all American citizens. Volume three, African American Women, highlights NMAAHC’s rich collection of photographs of African American women, presenting unknown women alongside icons such as Harriet Tubman, Sojourner Truth, Lena Horne and Grace Jones.

The “Double Exposure” series will continue with volume five, March Toward Freedom, featuring images of the African American military experiences to be published in 2017. Visit www.nmaahc.si.edu for updates. Volumes 1–4 are now available for sale at www.smithsonianstore.com and in the stores at the Smithsonian’s National Museum of American History, the Smithsonian Castle, Smithsonian’s National Museum of African Art and in the Smithsonian store at Union Station.

Contributors

Marian Wright Edelman is a lawyer, children’s rights activist and founder and president of the Children’s Defense Fund. Ivory Toldson is a professor, author and former deputy director of the White House Initiative on Historically Black Colleges and Universities. He is also the founding director of the Center for Research, Evaluation, Assessment, and Training in Education. Lonnie G. Bunch III is the founding director of NMAAHC. Anna Forgerson Hindley is the education specialist at NMAAHC. The museum’s Michèle Gates Moresi and Laura Coyle are the editors of the “Double Exposure” series.

Vol. 1: Through the African American Lens

Introduction by Rhea L. Combs; essay by Deborah Willis; foreword by Lonnie G. Bunch III
ISBN 978-1-907804-46-5
Publication February 2015

Vol. 2: Civil Rights and the Promise of Equality

Essays by John Lewis and Bryan Stevenson; foreword by Lonnie G. Bunch III
ISBN 978-1-907804-47-2
Publication June 2015

Vol. 3: African American Women

Poems by Natasha Trethewey; essay by Kinshasha Holman Conwill; foreword by Lonnie G. Bunch III
ISBN 978-1-907804-48-9
Publication June 2015

Vol. 4: Picturing Children

Contributions by Marian Wright Edelman and Ivory Toldson; foreword by Lonnie G. Bunch III
ISBN: 978-1907804755
Publication July 2016

About the Museum

The National Museum of African American History and Culture was established in 2003 by an Act of Congress, making it the 19th Smithsonian museum. It will open Sept. 24 on the National Mall in Washington, D.C., on a five-acre tract adjacent to the Washington Monument. As a museum of the 21st century, NMAAHC has begun to document diverse experiences that allow people to view American stories through an African American lens.

The “Double Exposure” series draws on the museum’s growing photography collection of more than 15,000 images, which also supports the innovative Earl W. and Amanda Stafford Center for African American Media Arts (CAAMA). CAAMA, a physical and virtual resource within NMAAHC, encourages the preservation and interpretation of photography and film, video and other media, including oral histories and sound recordings by and about African Americans. Through its public and scholarly programs and publications, CAAMA promotes African American visual culture through its collection, promotion and production of visual and aural media.

# # #

SI-384-2016