CORY REYNOLDS | DATE 11/2/2020

Civil Rights—and voting—inspiration in 'Leonard Freed: Black in White America'

This timely 1963 photograph—of Black Washington, DC-area citizens waiting in line to vote for the first time—is reproduced from Black in White America: 1963–1965, Reel Art Press's new, expanded and redesigned edition of photographer Leonard Freed's seminal 1968 civil rights photo-essay. Other photographs capture such pivotal moments in the civil rights movement as the 1963 March on Washington and the Selma to Montgomery marches, in addition to ordinary scenes of bravery, fatigue, endurance and wit. In his Foreword, fellow Magnum photographer Eli Reed writes, "Leonard was one of the doorkeepers to the historical reality of the times.… The book was an honest directive that captured the realities of normal Black people. It was close to an ultimate inside view while dealing in real time seconds, minutes and hours of the highlights and difficulties day after day, well beyond belief. The photographs were a continual visual truth, leaving no doubt as to what was happening when Leonard’s camera shutter captured those moments in question."