First published 2021
Deborah Willis examines how photography shaped the story of African Americans during the Civil War era. She draws from a visual archive that has received little attention, presenting over seventy images alongside personal letters, handwritten captions, and other intimate materials. Willis focuses on Black Union soldiers while also documenting the experiences of family members left behind and female spies who participated in the conflict. Her analysis spans from the war's beginning through 1900, revealing how African American communities influenced the war's development and outcome. The book demonstrates how photography helped create national perceptions of blackness, warfare, and slavery. Willis challenges the erasure of this history by showing how these visual records preserve individual and collective struggles for citizenship and recognition. Her work offers readers a detailed portrait of African American experiences during this period, combining photographic evidence with personal documents to illuminate stories that have been largely overlooked.
Genres: biography, history, american-civil-war, 20th-century, african-american, non-fiction, 19th-century, american-history
Vibes: emotional, intimate, thought-provoking
Tropes: historical-fiction, personal-narrative
Setting: United States
Period: Civil War Era, 19th Century, 20th Century
256 pages · Hardcover · NYU Press