Jamel Shabazz: The Book That Changed My Life

Posted on October 14, 2015

In the Brooklyn home where Jamel Shabazz grew up, his father kept a signed copy of Leonard Freed’s book, Black in White America, on the coffee table. The book, which was first published in 1968, opens with a photograph of an African American solder standing in front of the Berlin Wall in 1962. Freed was struck by the fact that the solder was willing to defend America abroad while back in the United States, they were subject to systemic racism, oppression, and exploitation under Jim Crow laws.

Freed returned to the United States and began to document the everyday black life during the battle for civil rights in New York, Washington, D.C., and throughout the South. The result of his efforts was a landmark book that changed the life of photographer Jamel Shabazz when he was nine years old.

The original edition of the book did not have a photo. It just had the words: BLACK IN WHITE AMERICA. Shabazz remembers opening the book, and stopping at the first image of the solider taken in 1962. His father and two uncles were military, on of who was still stationed in Germany. From the very beginning, Freed’s work became a profound source of knowledge, wisdom, and understanding for Shabazz.

He recalls, “The book moved me to time travel outside of my community. It allowed m to escape the projects to North Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia, and Mississippi. I was seeing the places for the first time. After I looked at the pictures, I went back to read the book. There were so many words I didn’t understand. I saw ‘nigger’ for the first time in my life, so I went to a dictionary to look it up. I looked up ‘segregation’ and ‘integration.’ The first time I saw the word ‘rape’ was in this book. I didn’t understand what that word meant. It goes beyond the photos. I was learning horrible new words and it set my mind in a way that school wouldn’t. I was rereading the book, imaging myself at nine and ten years old, trying to decipher what is going on. I fell in love with photography and used the dictionary to unlock the mystery of this book.”

Photo: Leonard Freed

Photo: Jamel Shabazz

Shabazz recalls, “Growing up, there was only one television in the house, so I only got bits and pieces of what was going on in the outside world, especially regarding the civil rights movement. I saw a beautiful photograph of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. for the very first time in Freed’s book, thus helping me better understand what was happening in both the northern and southern cities. Through the artistry of Leonard Freed, I was introduced to the power of documentary photography and the art of visual story telling. Freed’s book enlightened me to the harsh world of inequality, segregation, and struggle. In essence, Black in White America, became an essential study guide introducing me to the real world I would soon have to face, as a boy growing into manhood.“

Shabazz picked up a camera while he was in high school during the 1970s, but it wasn’t until he came home from a tour in the military in 1980 that his passion was revealed. His father, a military photographer himself, saw the that fire in his son, and gave him Freed’s book as an instrumental guide. Shabazz recalls, “He gave me the book so I could study lighting, composition, and black and white photography. Some of the most compelling photographs I made were shot almost right away. The seed had been planted in my mind at nine years old. I see things that people have a tendency to walk by. I take my time to observe what is going on around me.”

Photo: Leonard Freed

Photo: Jamel Shabazz

Freed taught Shabazz how to be a storyteller by virtue of mastering the craft. The greatest teachers lead by example and Freed was no exception to this fact. In the spirit of revolution, the circle spins round once again. Now on the cover of the book is a photograph of a young boy, flexing his bicep. Shabazz observes, “He’s the same age I was when I first picked up this up this book. I was building my mental through this book.”

In the works of Leonard Freed and Jamel Shabazz, we can see the way in which the commitment to truth, justice, and honor is more than a career, it is a spiritual quest, a calling to honor the people of this earth through the creation of the book. I am honored to present the works of Leonard Freed and Jamel Shabazz side by side here.