Black in America1997

Eli Reed has been documenting the black experience in America from the time he began taking pictures. As a photographer, Reed is known for his unflinching coverage of events both large and small. This volume is his provocative and often poignant portrait of black life in America. Here we see tender moments between parents and children contrasted with the Los Angeles riots. The joy of a wedding follows the sorrow and anger at the funeral of Yusef Hawkins in Brooklyn. The deceptive innocence of rural life balances the tensions of the urban drug scene. And a 104-year-old woman contemplates her life a few pages away from the Million Man March in Washington, D.C. There is truth in Reed's work, as well as anger, and compassion. These images communicate to us - sometimes as gentle as a kiss, sometimes as hard as a bullet. They are all part of Eli Reed's America - and ours.