Envisioning Emancipation, by Deborah Willis and Barbara Krauthamer and published by Temple University Press, is quickly gaining attention as an important and innovative text on the power of photography in the journey to emancipation. In this pioneering book, the authors have amassed 150 photographs—some never before published—from the antebellum days of the 1850s through the New Deal era of the 1930s. They vividly display the seismic impact of emancipation on African Americans born before and after the Proclamation, providing a perspective on freedom and slavery and a way to understand the photos as documents of engagement, action, struggle, and aspiration.

Press coverage has included extensive write ups by the New York Times Lens blog to an interview and photogallery on CNN.com. Among those to laud the book’s efforts are Thelma Golden, the chief curator and director of the Studio Museum of Harlem and reviewers at Publisher’s Weekly.

Krauthamer and Willis will be on campus for a book talk, signing and reception on Friday, February 8. The program takes place at 3PM in the Great Court of Mitten Hall (1931 N. Broad Street).