id: 78957 accession number: 2015.394 share license status: Copyrighted url: https://clevelandart.org/art/2015.394 updated: 2025-12-05 22:11:15.649000 Black Jews in Bedford Stuyvesant, Brooklyn, New York, USA, 1963. Leonard Freed (American, 1929–2006). Vintage gelatin silver print; image: 24 x 16.1 cm (9 7/16 x 6 5/16 in.); paper: 25.2 x 20.3 cm (9 15/16 x 8 in.). The Cleveland Museum of Art, Gift of George Stephanopoulos, 2015.394. © Leonard Freed /Magnum Photos title: Black Jews in Bedford Stuyvesant, Brooklyn, New York, USA title in original language: series: series in original language: creation date: 1963 creation date earliest: 1963 creation date latest: 1963 current location: creditline: Gift of George Stephanopoulos copyright: © Leonard Freed /Magnum Photos --- culture: America technique: Vintage gelatin silver print department: Photography collection: PH - American 1951-Present type: Photograph find spot: catalogue raisonne: --- CREATORS * Leonard Freed (American, 1929–2006) - artist Born in Brooklyn to Jewish, working-class parents of Eastern European descent, Leonard Freed (1929–2006) went to Europe to become a painter but instead discovered photography. After studying the medium in New York City, he worked as a documentary photographer and photojournalist in Europe. In 1972 he joined Magnum, the celebrated collaborative photo agency. Freed’s photographs in this exhibition are from Black in White America, a series inspired by an experience he had while covering the construction of the Berlin Wall in 1961. As he photographed an African American soldier guarding the border, it struck Freed that this man was risking his life to defend a country that limited his own rights. Freed returned to New York to undertake a multiyear exploration of African American life. Freed began shooting around New York, and then traveled extensively throughout the South. He spent time in communities getting to know his subjects, and kept a journal recording his impressions and their stories and words. During these years, he also covered Martin Luther King Jr. and numerous civil rights events, but when Freed published Black in White America in 1968, the book focused instead on the fabric of daily life. As a photojournalist, Freed was an observer rather than a participant, but not an impartial one. He believed that “photography is about who you are. It’s the seeking of truth in relation to yourself.” --- measurements: Image: 24 x 16.1 cm (9 7/16 x 6 5/16 in.); Paper: 25.2 x 20.3 cm (9 15/16 x 8 in.) state of the work: edition of the work: support materials: inscriptions: inscription: Written in pencil on verso: "LFBWA-17.2" Imprinted in black type on white adhesive label on verso: "RELIGION/WORLD RELIGION/JUDAISM" Written in black marker on verso: "ethnic NYC" Written in black ink on verso: "Brooklyn-/Bedford-/Styvesvant" Stamped in black ink on verso: "MAGNUM/PHOTO LIBRARY PRINT/NEW YORK/13226 (written in pencil and crossed out) 16499/LOG REF. 12519 (written in pencil and scribbled out)/TO BE RETURNED 17539" Written in pencil on verso: "Am Negro" Imprinted in black type on paper label adhered to verso: "Leonard Freed/"Black Jews" in the Bedford Stuyveant Area/in Brooklyn, New York./photo from the book: Leonard Freed/"black in white america" p109 (underlined)/023-39 (crossed out) =OLD # (written in pencil)/014-23-39 (written in black marker and crossed out)" Stamped in black ink on verso: "VINTAGE PRINT/63-5-3-39 (written in pencil)" Written in pencil on verso: "REL 05" Written in pencil on verso: "1963 Brooklyn, N.Y., USA" Written in black marker on white adhesive label on verso: "V-CS27-D5" translation: remark: --- CURRENT EXHIBITIONS --- LEGACY EXHIBITIONS --- PROVENANCE --- fun fact: digital description: wall description: --- RELATED WORKS --- CITATIONS --- IMAGES