Lifestyle
‘Reflections in Black’ celebrates history of Black photography with expanded issue
Four African American women sit on the steps of a building at Atlanta University in Georgia in this 1890s photograph by Thomas E. Askew. The image is one of the hundreds included in Reflections in Black, written and edited by scholar and NYU professor Deborah Willis.
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Deborah Willis, professor and chair of the Department of Photography and Imaging at NYU’s Tisch School of the Arts, has released an updated anniversary edition of Reflections in Black: A History of Black Photographers, 1840 to the Present.
Willis: Laylah Amatullah Barrayn; Cover Image: Maud Sulter.
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Willis: Laylah Amatullah Barrayn; Cover Image: Maud Sulter.
For decades, Deborah Willis has dedicated her career to unearthing, cataloging and showcasing Black photographers and photographs of Black people. The MacArthur “Genius Award” winner is the author of a spectacular collection of books including the seminal Reflections in Black: A History of Black Photographers, 1840 to the Present.
Twenty-five years after its publication, a new edition of Reflections in Black is out with 130 new images and a gallery show inspired by the book. In the expansion of this book, Willis considered the effects of migration and the importance of images for people forced to leave home.
“The aspect of migration is a central way of me reading these images, today there are so many people who are from the diaspora that are photographers now,” she said. “When families had to leave home, with disaster today, what do you take with you now? Photographs are what people are taking.”
Morning Edition’s Michel Martin visited Willis at New York University’s Tisch School of the Arts, where she teaches and leads the photo department.
Here are four takeaways from their conversation.
1. Willis’ upbringing shaped her love for photography
An interior view of a tobacco and newspaper store photographed by Daniel Freeman around 1917, from Reflections in Black.
Estate of Dr. James K. Hill, Washington, D.C.
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Estate of Dr. James K. Hill, Washington, D.C.
Willis grew up in North Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, where her mother had a beauty shop and kept what Willis calls: “the Black color wheel of magazines.”
The publications included Ebony, Jet, and Tan and featured images that influenced her growing up. Her father, a policeman and tailor, was also an amateur photographer.
2. Reflections in Black started as an undergrad paper
A portrait of an unidentified woman photographed by J.P. Ball in the 1890s, from Reflections in Black.
Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and Culture.
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Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and Culture.
Willis was studying at the Philadelphia College of Art (the college merged with another institution to become the University of the Arts in Philadelphia in 1985. UArts closed its doors in 2024) when she asked a professor why Black photographers were missing from the history books.
“Where are the Black photographers?” she recalled. That question morphed into the monumental project that became Reflections in Black. She began her research by reading city directories.
“Because of segregation in the 19th century, I was able to identify with the asterisk the colored photographers … I created this list of 500,” she said.
She took that list to the Schomburg Center in Harlem, where she found some of the photographers’ images and created portfolios for each one. Later, with the help of Richard Newman, her “publishing angel,” the paper she wrote as an undergraduate grew into a book.
3. Frederick Douglass understood photography as biography
Frederick Douglass was one of the most photographed people during the 19th century. The writer and abolitionist is known to have had about 160 photographs and portraits made of him.
“I believe in reading his words that photography was biography,” Willis said. “We’ve not found a photograph of him smiling.” She emphasized Douglass himself collaborated with the photographer behind the lens in part as an effort to counter degrading images of Black people.
4. Willis searched for “The Exhibit of American Negroes,” which W.E.B. Du Bois organized for the 1900 Paris Exposition
Members of the First Congregational Church in Atlanta pose outside the church in this photograph by Thomas E. Askew. The image appears in W.E.B. Du Bois’ albums of photographs of African Americans in Georgia exhibited at the 1900 Paris Exposition Universelle, and is included in Reflections in Black.
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Library of Congress
Wills first heard about the exhibit in the 1970s, when she went to the Library of Congress looking for photographs from it. She said staff told her the photographs didn’t exist.
Twenty years later, photographs from the exhibit were retrieved by a young Black man working in the archives. “They didn’t exist because they weren’t processed,” Willis told NPR.
Du Bois, she said, understood the importance of photography and often asked, “Why aren’t there more Black photographers, Black men studying photography?”
The digital version of this interview was edited by Majd Al-Waheidi and Danielle Scruggs.
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By Vanessa Friedman, Chevaz Clarke, Gabby Bulgarelli and Jon Hazell
January 12, 2026
My husband and I live in Pasadena. We moved from Los Feliz about 10 years ago. We have struggled to find LGBTQ+ events this far east. We can only hit up Boulevard so many times (although we love it). Any advice for finding LGBTQ+ events in Pasadena, Eagle Rock, Highland Park, Glendale or the SGV? I feel like there are bars out here that may host weekly events that I just don’t hear about. — Will Birnie
Looking for things to do in L.A.? Ask us your questions and our expert guides will share highly specific recommendations.
Here’s what we suggest:
Will, you are so right. While there are several queer bars around your former neighborhood (Hi Tops in Los Feliz, Akbar in Silver Lake, Club Bahia in Echo Park and Honey’s at Star Love in East Hollywood), they are few and far between in the eastern part of L.A. County. But your question sent me down a rabbit hole and I’m proud to report that I’ve found a handful of spots and regular events that you should check out in your area. (Shout out to my colleagues and everyone who responded to my request for help on Instagram.)
Highland Park is home to the Offbeat, which is one of my friend Jaycen Mitchell‘s favorite bars in the area. The beloved dive bar hosts karaoke nights, drag shows, live music performances, “RuPaul’s Drag Race” screenings and other themed nights throughout the week. “I’ve been able to see all of my favorite drag queens there in more intimate settings, and the DJs have had me and my friends dancing until we were the last ones there,” Mitchell tells me. Also in Highland Park is Blind Barber, a speakeasy that hosts Homo Happy Hour on Thursdays. Mitchell says the happy hour is always a good time and a chance to “show up as your authentic self, be in community and queen out with your girls.”
Then in Glendale, there’s Junior High, a nonprofit art gallery and inclusive gathering space that hosts a variety of events, including music shows, artist showcases, comedy nights, pottery workshops and more. A standout event is Fantasy Suite, a pole dance show that features queer dancers with varying body types. Cherry Jayne and Jax “Lil Sumthin” launched the queer strip club experience in 2022 after struggling to find work due to “fatphobia that plagues traditional strip club hiring,” they told me. The next event will take place Feb. 7 and will feature Valentine’s Day songs of love, lust and heartbreak.
At Footsies in Cypress Park, Latino queer artist and DJ Mino Sanchez and his boyfriend, Ivan Castaneda, who also DJs, have been hosting Gay Night for nearly four years. The event, which happens on the second Saturday of each month, features BIPOC queer DJs who spin house, disco, Spanish dance music, electronica, pop and international sounds. There’s also a drag performance at midnight. In El Monte, the San Gabriel Valley LGBTQ Center hosts Gayme Night on the third Thursday of every month. The all-ages event features karaoke along with video and board games.
And you already know and love Boulevard — it really is a gem (and it’s the only gay bar in Pasadena). Though it was at risk of closing during the pandemic, the 45-year-old bar survived and continues to host a drag trivia night on Tuesdays and a drag show on Friday nights hosted by Borgia Bloom Facade. Times food columnist Jenn Harris writes that the Boulevard bar has served as a “safe haven for the gay community in the area and an alternative to the West Hollywood bar scene.”
If you’re looking for a different type of community beyond bars and events, my colleague Jaclyn Cosgrove recommends Throop Unitarian Universalist Church in Pasadena. “My pastor, Rev. Tera Landers, likes to say she doesn’t like religion, but she loves church,” says Cosgrove, who also lives in Pasadena. “That’s in large part because of the community we have at [the church] including our choir, which has a large number of transgender and queer members. It is where I go to refill my cup every Sunday.”
I hope this list helps you and your husband find more spaces around your neighborhood to build community and have a great time.
Ariana Grande arrives at the 83rd Golden Globes on Sunday, Jan. 11, 2026, at the Beverly Hilton in Beverly Hills, Calif.
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The brightest stars in TV and film kicked off the 83rd annual Golden Globes tonight in Beverly Hills, Calif. with Ariana Grande, Noah Wyle, Teyana Taylor and George Clooney are just some the names who walked the red carpet. This year’s ceremony was hosted by comedian Nikki Glaser.
Here’s a glimpse of what some of the attendees are wearing tonight.
Michael B. Jordan
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Ryan Coogler and Zinzi Evans
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Jean Smart
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Owen Cooper
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Sara Wells and Noah Wyle
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Claire Danes
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Stellan Skarsgård and Megan Everett-Skarsgard
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EJAE
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Amanda Anka and Jason Bateman
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Adam Brody and Leighton Meester
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Laufey
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Kirsten Dunst and Jesse Plemons
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Macaulay Culkin and Brenda Song
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Selena Gomez and Benny Blanco
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Rose Byrne
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Kate Hudson
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Snoop Dogg
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Timothée Chalamet
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Miley Cyrus
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George Clooney and Amal Clooney
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Leonardo DiCaprio
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Michel Martin
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Steve Inskeep
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Leila Fadel
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A Martinez
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Ben Falcone and Melissa McCarthy
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William Stanford Davis
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Maya Rudolph and Paul Thomas Anderson
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Emma Stone
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Natasha Lyonne and Clea DuVall
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Mark Ruffalo and Sunrise Coigney
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Sheryl Lee Ralph
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Keegan-Michael Key and Elle Key
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Justin Sylvester
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Judd Apatow and Lesley Mann
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Ashton Kutcher and Mila Kunis
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Minnie Driver
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Orlando Bloom
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Hudson Williams
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Connor Storrie
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Nikki Glaser
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Dakota Fanning
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Queen Latifah
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