The Black Female Body: A Photographic History

The Black Female Body: A Photographic History is a groundbreaking book that sheds light on the long-neglected and taboo subject of photography featuring black women.

With over 200 images by renowned photographers such as James Van Der Zee, Gordon Parks, and Carrie Mae Weems, as well as many unknowns, this book provides a fascinating view into the complexities of deconstructing images of females of African descent within the medium of photography.

The authors, Deborah Willis and Carla Williams, bring an informed and sensitive perspective to the subject, using historical and aesthetic viewpoints to analyze examples from the earliest photographs of black women by European photographers in the 1840s to contemporary images in the 1990s.

This book is a must-read for anyone interested in expanding their black history, photo history, and women's studies collections.