Arts & Culture

Black in America

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

Eli Reed

Eli Reed | Black in America Lawyer John Crump who was victim of racism from a national hotel. Washington D.C., USA. 1992. © Eli Reed | Magnum Photos
Eli Reed | Black in America Members of the Nation of Islam among the ruins of the Rodney King riots. Los Angeles, USA. 1992. © Eli Reed | Magnum Photos
Eli Reed | Black in America Mississippi. Tunica, USA. 1985. © Eli Reed | Magnum Photos
Eli Reed | Black in America Child at the Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial. Montgomery, USA. 1995. © Eli Reed | Magnum Photos
Eli Reed | Black in America Attendees of the Million Man March on the Washington Mall. Washington D.C., USA. October 16, 1995. © Eli Reed | Magnum Photos
Eli Reed | Black in America Teen mothers on their way to a conference on teen pregnancy. Washington D.C., USA. 1985. © Eli Reed | Magnum Photos
Eli Reed | Black in America Members of the rap group Run DMC on the road between Virginia and New York. USA. 1986. © Eli Reed | Magnum Photos
Eli Reed | Black in America Children from the Head Start program, America's federally sponsored preschool in Texas. Lampasas, USA. 1990. © Eli Reed | Magnum Photos
Eli Reed | Black in America Students embrace at the Thomas Jefferson High School. New York City, USA. 1992. © Eli Reed | Magnum Photos
Eli Reed | Black in America Rodeo in Harlem. New York City, USA. 1985. © Eli Reed | Magnum Photos
Eli Reed | Black in America A state school for orphans. Detroit, USA. 1988. © Eli Reed | Magnum Photos

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.

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