1970s Archives - Picturing Black History

A photograph of three African American women who were identified as domestic helpers waiting for a street car, all three women are wearing coats and hats, two men and a woman who are white are also waiting on transportation, Atlanta, Georgia. 1939. From the New York Public Library.

Black Women’s Work and Leisure in the Black Mecca

The everyday lives and struggles of Black women in Atlanta reveal the roots of their activism.

PARIS - JANUARY 1974; Black Panther and writer Eldridge Cleaver, an exile from American justice, and wife Kathleen sit in their apartment in Paris France during their exile circa 1974

The Life of Eldridge Cleaver

Author of Soul on Ice and one of the most recognized activists for Black internationalism, Eldridge Cleaver went from militance to obscurity.

The Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater perform 'Revelations' at Sadler's Wells in London, UK, June 1973.

Alvin Ailey’s Pluralistic Vision for America

The famed choreographer used his art to emphasize the universal resonance of African American stories.

July 1972: A group of youths spraypaint graffiti on a New York wall.

The Graffiti Art Movement in Philadelphia

“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.

Plaque à l'entrée du siège du Black Panther Party en Algérie.

The Panthers and Palestine

The Black Panther Party—especially their International Section based in Algiers—embraced the Palestinian cause as part and parcel of their own struggle.