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Black in America

Eli Reed's photo-study reveals a poignant portrait of Black life in America during the 1980s and 90s

Eli Reed John Crump. Washington D.C., USA. 1992. All images © Eli Reed / Magnum Photos "In 1992, John Crump, then the executive director of the D.C.-based National Bar Association, was attending the gro (...)

Eli Reed has been documenting the Black experience in America from the time he began taking pictures, forging a reputation for the unflinching coverage of events both large and small. This lifetime’s work builds a portrait of life in the United States for African Americans. It covers a diverse spectrum of emotion and subject matter, from tender moments between parents and children to the Los Angeles riots. The joy of a wedding follows the sorrow and anger at the funeral of Yusef Hawkins, whose death sparked the Crown Heights riots in Brooklyn in 1991.

“This book deals with life for Black Americans now and reaching into the next century,” wrote Reed in the introduction to the photobook in 1996. “It is, in a larger sense, about spirit and substance, about successes and failures, and social intercourse between the races, particularly blacks and whites. This project has not been easy for me. At times I wanted to turn away in disgust. But there were moments of joy and encouragement. The situation in the United States isn’t good but I’m still an optimist.”

Members of the Nation of Islam among the ruins of the Rodney King riots. Los Angeles, USA. 1992.

Black in America Mississippi. Tunica, USA. 1985.

Eli Reed Los Angeles, California. USA. 1985. © Eli Reed | Magnum Photos

Black in America Hartford, USA. 1988.

Eli Reed Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial. Alabama, Montgomery, United States. 1995. © Eli Reed | Magnum Photos

Attendees of the Million Man March on the Washington Mall. Washington D.C., USA. October 16, 1995.

Teen mothers on their way to a conference on teen pregnancy. Washington D.C., USA. 1985.

"I looked into the faces of young lovers on concrete sidewalks of Richmond, California. I saw innocence, hope, possibilities, and a certain amount of foreboding in their faces and in their eyes. "

- Eli Reed

Members of the rap group Run DMC on the road between Virginia and New York. USA. 1986.

View the image of Run DMC playing chess as a Darkroom Print here.

Black in America Georgia, USA. 1990.

Head Start program, America's federally sponsored preschool. "One of the most successful social campaigns out of the 1960's." Lampasas, Texas, USA. 1990.