In 1989, D. Michael Cheers, a photojournalist, writer and documentary film maker, Eric Easter, a media consultant, writer and broadcaster, and Dudley M. Brooks, an award winning photojournalist, met to discuss the idea of producing a photography book reflecting contemporary American life through the experiences of African Americans. A year later, with Time Warner Cable as a major sponsor, New African Visions was created. The book project was to be accompanied by a traveling exhibition, video and lecture series.
In June of 1990 a planning meeting of fifty photographers was held at the Corcoran Gallery in Washington, D.C. Among the photographers were Pulitzer prize winners Ozier Muhammad, John H. White, Keith Williams and Matthew Lewis. Also included were Neiman Fellows, Lester Sloan and Eli Reed. With thousands of rolls of film donated by Eastman Kodak, the photographers were then dispatched. They traveled from coast to coast and returned with a variety of images of African American life for urban, rural and suburban landscapes. After "Songs of My People African Americans:A Self Portrait" was published in 1992, a traveling exhibition of the photographers taken during the course was launched. The exhibition was divided into six categories: youth, community, leisure, professions, spirituality and culture. The photo exhibition visited over 25 states during 1992 to 1995. An international tour began in 1994 and traveled to a host of East Asian, African and Latin American countries before ending in 1995.
From the description of Songs of My People 1990-1994. (Unknown). WorldCat record id: 122547373
