Darcy Eveleigh
Author of Unseen: Unpublished Black History from the New York Times Photo Archives
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In many cases the photographs provided scenes of triumph and accomplishment, such as a photograph taken backstage at Carnegie Hall in 1982 depicting opera singers Shirley Verrett and Grace Bumbry embracing Marian Anderson after an evening of music celebrating Anderson's art and career. That 1982 photo is in fact one of the most recent. Most are from the 1950s through the 1970s. Many portray moments from the Civil Rights Movement and the uprisings of the 1960s. There are several searing photographs depicting the fierce Detroit riots of 1968 and the aftermath of destruction and anger.
Sometimes the juxtapositions the editors have chosen are interesting. A series of "you are there" photos showing the daily life of Resurrection City, the settlement that arose on the National Mall in Washington, D.C. during the 1968 Poor People's Campaign is followed immediately by a photograph of Arthur Mitchell, "the legendary African-American dancer, choreographer and co-founder of the Dance Theater of Harlem" in a posed setting during a rehearsal for the Dance Theater's upcoming production of Creole Giselle.
Sometimes the reasons for particular photographs remaining unpublished are essentially prosaic, reinforcing the Times' reputation as the staid "Gray Lady." Expressive, movement filled photos set aside in favor of more static photos: headshots or posed portraits and the like. Other times, prejudice seems certainly to have played a part. For example, there's a photograph of President Truman shaking hands with William H. Lastie, who had just been named the first black governor of the Virgin Islands. In the photograph in the book, they are standing next to each other shaking hands. The photo that the paper actually ran was identical, but with no handshake ongoing.
There are heartbreaking and horrifying historical photographs: Coretta Scott King at her husband's funeral, inside Malcolm X's house in Queens just after it was firebombed. No one was injured, but soon we see the photograph of Malcolm X's funeral after he was assassinated by rifle fire just eight days later. There is a photograph of Fred Hampton's bullet-ridden apartment immediately after his murder by Chicago policemen, and a series of photos of black soldiers in Vietnam.
Given that many of these photographs are of black people in New York City during the 60s and 70s, it's not surprising that most of the street scenes depict areas of Harlem, where my wife and I are staying for a year, through May 2024. In fact, I bought the book in a gift shop on Lennox Avenue (a.k.a. Malcolm X Boulevard) just a few blocks from our apartment on W. 117th.
Each of the photographs/photo series is accompanied by a short essay describing the photograph, the circumstances behind its creation and information about what photo was chosen to run in its place (or whether a photo was used at all or whether a story about the incident or scene was ever run). When possible, followup information and/or relatively contemporary interviews with the subjects are included, and a few times those essays are even written by the original photographer. This is simply a wonderful book that you'll want to take your time paging through and studying.… (more)