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“Buffalo Soldiers”—The 92nd Infantry Division—in Italy, 1944-45
The famed choreographer used his art to emphasize the universal resonance of African American stories.
“Coming to a Wall Near You!” From the 1960s to 1980s, Black teenagers in Philadelphia convinced the world that graffiti wasn’t vandalism, but public art rooted in protest and self-expression.
Without images of African Americans, depictions of important military moments are incomplete.
Some Black soldiers chose not to go home after the war, remaining in North Korea and China—behind the “bamboo curtain”—to escape racism in the United States.
Bluesman Muddy Waters went from the Mississippi cotton fields to Chicago and changed the face of American music.
The editorial team at Picturing Black History recognizes the importance of Black history as a subject of academic knowledge and a source of African diaspora identities. We embrace the power of images to capture stories of oppression and resistance, perseverance and resilience, freedom dreams, imagination, and joy within the United States and around the globe.
Picturing Black History emerged in the wake of national and international Black Lives Matter protests following the murder of George Floyd at the hands of four Minneapolis police officers in 2020. We recognize that Black Lives Matter is a contemporary outgrowth of a long history of Black racial protest in the United States. Picturing Black History is our collaborative effort to contribute to an ongoing public dialogue on the significance of Black history and Black life in the United States and throughout the globe.
© 2021–2024 This project is a collaboration of Getty Images and Origins: Current Events in Historical Perspective.
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