Through Darkness to Light: Photographs Along the Underground Railroad (Night Photography, Underground Railroad Photography and Essays)

Author: Michna-Bales, Jeanine

Edition: Illustrated

Features:

• PR ARCH

Number Of Pages: 192

Details:

They left in the middle of the night—often carrying little more than the knowledge to follow the North Star. Between 1830 and the end of the Civil War in 1865, an estimated one hundred thousand slaves became passengers on the Underground Railroad, a journey of untold hardship, in search of freedom. In Through Darkness to Light: Photographs Along the Underground Railroad, Jeanine Michna-Bales presents a remarkable series of images following a route from the cotton plantations of central Louisiana, through the cypress swamps of Mississippi and the plains of Indiana, north to the Canadian border

— a path of nearly fourteen hundred miles. The culmination of a ten-year research quest,

Through Darkness to Light imagines a journey along the Underground Railroad as it might have appeared to any freedom seeker. Framing the powerful visual narrative is an introduction by Michna-Bales; a foreword by noted politician, pastor, and civil rights activist Andrew J. Young; and essays by Fergus M. Bordewich, Robert F. Darden, and Eric R. Jackson.

Reviews:

"Ms. Michna-Bales's quest has led to an evocative book, Through Darkness to Light: Photographs along the Underground Railroad. While much has been written about the subject, there has been little visual documentation, an absence that makes the book even more consequential, both from the standpoint of history and of our contemporary understanding of slavery in pre-Civil War America." - The New York Times Lens Blog

"These photographs of unpeopled rural landscapes, taken almost exclusively under the cover of descending or ebbing darkness, have about them a sense of both intimacy and mystery, conveying

"how vast, strange, and forbidding these remote places must have felt to those making the journey" with an almost painful steadiness of vision: the camera trained always on the ground ahead, the sky, or the horizon line, the promise of a future the viewer can't yet see." - Oxford American

"The photographs are the subject of a beautiful book published by Princeton Architectural Press with an incredibly moving preface by no less a figure in African-American history than Andrew J. Young and fascinating essays by scholars who have already published extensively on the subject of the Underground Railroad." - Dallas Morning News

"Living With Plants is one of those books I wish I had read before I went out and bought a ton of plants years ago. This is one of those books I'll likely reference for years to come, not only because of its useful information on caring for my plants, but also for its beautiful photography, effective styling tips, and the handful of DIY tutorials accompanied with easy-to-follow instructions." -Apartment Therapy

"This haunting photo essay is the culmination of a 10-year project, in which photographer Jeanine Michna-Bales traced a 1,400-mile path along the Underground Railroad from a cotton plantation in central Louisiana through Mississippi, Indiana and into Canada. What makes the project so powerful is that all the photos were taken at the dead of night, when enslaved Africans would have been running for their lives. The claustrophobia evoked from paging through inky images of dark forests and shadowy structures is sustained until the final, hopeful shot of daybreak in Canada." - Atlanta Journal-Constitution

"This is a truly fascinating slice of US history and one well served by Michna-Bales' beautiful imagery." - Amateur Photographer

"This is a creative and imaginative project that uses the medium of photography to show how the journey might have appeared to those in route. VERDICT An inventive, heartfelt, and worthy contribution to literature about the Underground Railroad." - Library Journal

"Michna-Bales spent more than three years shooting the book. The photographs, heavy with atmosphere, are told through the first-person point of view, a decision she reached because she wanted the photographs to feel as intimate as possible." - Smithsonian.c...

EAN: 9781616895655

Release Date: 28-03-2017

Languages: English

Item Note: Readable book with typical wear and small creases. Part of cover is torn. Has a remainder mark. Hardcover Used - Good 2017Illustrated

Item Condition: UsedGood

Binding: Hardcover