The civil rights movement of the 1950s and the years that followed called African-American photographers like Moneta Sleet, Jr., Chandra McCormick, and Lou Jones to be “graphic historians,” photojournalists of events and memorializers of individuals both prominent and unknown. The same years saw strong growth and new directions in the art of photography.

In more than 130 images by African-American photographers, Reflections in Black captures the engagement of history and art, and the era.

Reflections in Black Teaching Questions

For their teaching methods courses, Patrick McQuillan, an associate professor in the Lynch School of Education, and Grant Miller, a doctoral student in education, had their classes develop questions that elementary and secondary students might use to analyze the photographs included in the Reflections in Black exhibit. The questions their students designed are grouped according to the following grades: kindergarten through second grade; third and fourth grade; fifth and sixth grade; and eighth through twelfth grade.

Download grade school questions (2.7M)

Download high school questions (2 M)

View selected works from the exhibition.

The Boston Globe looks at Reflections in Black.

Download the Discovery Guide, a set of exhibtion notes and activities for elementary students.

For information on the history of African-Americans and Massachusetts courts, visit The Long Road to Justice.

In October, Boston College's Lynch School of Education holds its 3rd Annual Diversity Challenge Conference

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