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Tuesday, April 28, 2009

May 2 Bruce Silverstein Gallery

Leonard Freed: Black in White America

May 02, 2009 - June 13, 2009

Opening Reception: May 2nd, 6-8 pm

Bruce Silverstein Gallery

535 West 24th Street

New York, NY 10011

www.brucesilverstein.com

In 1962 Leonard Freed went to Berlin to shoot the wall being erected. There he saw an African American soldier standing in front of the wall and it struck him; that at home in the US, African Americans were struggling for civil rights, and here in Germany an African American soldier was ready to defend the USA.

This prompted a lengthy examination by Freed of the plight of the African Americans at home in the United States. Freed traveled to New York, Washington, D.C. and all throughout the South, capturing images of a segregated and racially-entrenched society. The photos taken at that time were then published in 1968 in "Black in White America".

"Black in White America" is a moving collection of photos and telling captions that document the African American struggle for self-definition in mid-20th century America. Freed's sensitive and informative black-and-white photographs, reproduced in gravure, of 1960s African American living throughout America investigates the politics of the country, and articulates the anxiety of an under-represented and discriminated people.

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