**CANCELLED** MyCultureMyRules Presents “An American History Film Series”

Engage in conversations that educate, inspire, and build solidarity amongst our community.

The Screening of the film:

“Through a Lens Darkly: Black Photographers and the Emergence of a People.”

This documentary explores the role of photography in shaping the identity, aspirations, and social of emergence of African Americans from slavery to the present, this film probes the recesses of American History through images that been suppressed, forgotten, and lost.

Bringing to light the hidden and unknown photos shot by both professional and vernacular African-American photographers, the film opens a window into the lives of families, whose experiences and perspectives are often missing from the traditional historical canon. African-Americans historically embraced the medium as a way to subvert popular stereotypes as far back as the Civil War era. These images show a much more complexed and nuanced view of American culture and it’s founding ideals.

Inspired by the book, Reflections in Black, by photo historian Deborah Willis, the film features the works of esteemed photographic artists, Carrie Mae Weems, Lorna Simpson, Anthony Barboza, Hank Willis Thomas, CoCo Disco, Clarissa Sigh, James Van Der Zee, Gordon Parks, and many others.

The screening will be followed by Q&A presented by Eric Rodgers.