Pioneering model Helen Williams, hands down, the most photographed Black model of the 1950s and 1960s, in a 1960s Kodak advertisement.
Uncompromising Photos Expose Juvenile Detention in America
A 12-year-old in his cell at the Harrison County Juvenile Detention Center in Biloxi, Mississippi. The window has been boarded up from the outside. The facility is operated by Mississippi Security Police, a private company. In 1982, a fire killed 27 prisoners and an ensuing lawsuit against the authorities forced them to reduce their population to maintain an 8:1 inmate to staff ratio.
To see the entire photo set click here
via dez-ray: deus—ex-machina:
(Source: sidewayscat, via blackcontemporaryart)
Billie Holiday, seen here with her beloved dog, Mister, in a photo by Carl Van Vechten, was born on this day in 1915. Little did Eleanora Fagan know that she would be remembered forever.
Autoportraits, Samuel Fosso’s self-portrait as an African chief, 14 Febuary 2004
Samuel Fosso (b. Kunmba, Cameroon, 1962) opened his own photography studio, out of boredom, when he was only thirteen years old. Between 1975 and 1980, Fosso took a series of self-portraits to take up extra film leftover from the day’s work. He experimented with different backdrops, costumes and props. Eventually, the portraits would win him acclaim in the art world. His work has been shown in major international venues such as the Photographers’ Gallery in London and the Guggenheim Museum in New York. He now lives and works in Bangui, Central African Republic.
(via blackcontemporaryart)
You are Black Gold, Black Gold, Black Gold. You are Black Gold.
“Black Gold” by Esperanza Spalding
I love her afro. I wish I had one…
one of my favorites.
rest in power.
Mother and Child 1956 - I had the pleasure of seeing this sculpture by Elizabeth Catlett, a African-American artist who lived and worked in Mexico, at the Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) in New York City.
(via blackcontemporaryart)
Carrie Mae Weems (American, b. 1953), Untitled (Man Smoking/Malcolm X), from the Kitchen Table series, 1990, Gelatin silver print.
(via kameelahwrites)
