25 years ago, Reflections in Black changed photography

As a student at the Philadelphia College of Art, Deborah Willis remembers being one of three women seated with 18 white men in a class on photography history. ​“Where are the Black photographers?” Willis asked. It was a question long overdue, and right on time. 

Her professor, the esteemed curator Anne Wilkes Tucker, suggested Willis take this on as a research project. The die was cast, as Willis stepped into the role of a lifetime that would see destiny fulfilled in 2000 with the publication of Reflections in Black: A History of Black Photographers, 1840 to the Present, the very first book of its kind. Featuring contributions of groundbreaking artists including James Van Der Zee, Chester Higgins Jr., Roland L. Freeman, Earlie Hudnall Jr., Anthony Barboza, and Ming Smith that trace Black American life through its story of self, Willis made photography history. 

Now she does it again with a brand new edition of Reflections in Black (Liveright), which was published late last year. The 25^th anniversary edition is no mere reprint, but a handsome expansion that includes an impressive new chapter, which, at 130 pages long, is a fascinating study in its own right. With some 200 new images by including Jamel Shabazz, Russell Frederick, Joshua Rashaad McFadden, Lola Flash, and Laylah Amatullah Barrayn, Reflections in Black becomes a living document that explores the interplay between tradition, continuity, innovation, and imagination over the past quarter of a century.

• Read next: Coreen Simpson’s sweeping, half-century archive of Black America

If there is a through line in this vast, cosmic art history, it is Willis herself. Growing up in Philadelphia, she remembers: ​“In my neighbourhood, there were Black photojournalists and my mom had a beauty shop so I grew up looking at Ebony, Jet, and Life magazine. I was curious why they were all missing from the history books, and I felt it was important these names needed to be known.” 

In true DIY fashion, Willis poured through the Black newspapers for photo credits, and began reaching out, the research going on to become her PhD dissertation project before finding form as a groundbreaking art history book and exhibition. ​“This experience has made me a better listener,” Willis says. ​“When I was working on the book in the ​’90s, I used to listen to a lot of the photographers, who were in their 70s, 80s, and 90s then like Gordon Parks, Morgan and Marvin Smith, and Moneta Sleet Jr.; they were visionaries and they listened to my young mind interested in documenting their lives.” 

Today, Willis is in the position to raise up the next generation of photographers. As University Professor and Chair of the Department of Photography & Imaging at NYU’s Tisch School of the Arts, she has stood at the centre of the medium’s reinvention in the digital age, as doors once shuttered to Black artists have come unhinged. Looking back over the past 25 years, Willis marvelled at the proliferation of visual thinking among her students, friends, colleagues, and peers, absorbing diasporic perspectives of beauty, identity, and migration. 

• Read next: Photos exploring Black Britishness in the 21^st century

“The idea of Black joy became very important to this generation of photographers, who wanted to show not only the difficult moments of our lives but also tell a different story,” Willis says. ​“I listened closely to what it meant to this community. How do we reimagine hope through struggle?”

Reflections in Black: A History of Black Photographers 1840s to the Present, 25^th Anniversary Edition: A Reframing by Deborah Willis is published by Liveright.

Miss Rosen is a freelance arts and photography writer, follow her on X.

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