Office of DEI Presents "Through a Lens Darkly" in the 1st Annual Black History Month Film Series

Throughout the month of February, we’ll be showing one movie per week that addresses the Black experience in America on the Eventive platform, for a true virtual film screening experience, followed by expert-led interactive discussions on the themes raised in the films.

Register for the Film Series On Eventive

WEEK 2 (FEB. 10, 5:30pm, EST): THROUGH A LENS DARKLY: Through a Lens Darkly: Black Photographers and the Emergence of a People from filmmaker and Yale senior lecturer Thomas Allen Harris is the first documentary to explore the role of photography in shaping the identity, aspirations, and social emergence of African Americans from slavery to the present, and probes the recesses of American history through images that have been suppressed, forgotten, and lost.
African Americans historically embraced the medium as a way to subvert popular stereotypes as far back as the Civil War era, with Frederick Douglass photographed in a suit and black soldiers posing proudly in their uniforms. These images show a much more complex and nuanced view of American culture and its 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 Fusco, Clarissa Sligh, James Van Der Zee, Gordon Parks, and many others.
Following the movie, filmmaker Thomas Allen Harris, senior lecturer in African American studies and film and media studies, will lead a discussion on the film and its themes