Learn more about the newly released Aperture photobook, “Ernest Cole: The True America.”
Leslie Matlaisane, chairperson of the Ernest Cole Family Trust and nephew of Ernest Cole, Aperture’s Denise Wolff, editor of this title, and curator and contributor Leslie M. Wilson discuss the first publication of Cole’s photographs depicting Black lives in the United States during the turbulent and eventful late 1960s and early 1970s.
After fleeing South Africa to publish his landmark book “House of Bondage” (1967) on the horrors of apartheid, Cole resettled in New York. He photographed extensively on the streets of New York City and documented Black communities in cities and rural areas of the United States-traveling across the country in the months leading up to and just after the assassination of Martin Luther King Jr. “The True America” provides an important window into American society and establishes Cole’s place in the history of American photography.
Order “Ernest Cole: The True America” here: bit.ly/4bZmRF2
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This event was recorded live on February 27, 2024.
All images: Ernest Cole, Untitled, 1968-71; from Ernest Cole: The True America (Aperture, 2024). © 2024 Ernest Cole Family Trust