Ronald Freeman is widely regarded as one of the foremost documentationists of the Black experience in the 20th century. Born in Baltimore in 1936, he served in the Air Force from 1954 to 1958. His photo documentary career began in 1963.
*Roland L. Freeman’s photographic career began when he borrowed a friend’s camera to capture the events surrounding the August 28, 1963, March on Washington D.C. In 1968, he documented the civil unrest in Washington D.C. following the assassination of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. A month later, Freeman was photographing the Southern Christian Leadership Conference’s Poor People’s Campaign “Mule Train” March on Washington. Freeman documented the entire Mule Train caravan on its month-long journey from Marks, Mississippi to Washington D.C. Since then, Freeman has spent over four decades documenting ethnic communities, folk traditions and rituals throughout the South. Freeman’s photographs have been exhibited in museums and galleries throughout the world and his many books of photography include: “A Communion of the Spirits: African-American Quilters, Preservers, and Their Stories” (1996), “The Arabbers of Baltimore” (1989), and “The Mule Train: A Journey of Hope Remembered” (1998).
Freeman draws inspiration from a life growing up in both rural Maryland and urban Baltimore. At an early age, he met author and folklorist Zora Neale Hurston, whose writings would later inform Freeman’s narrative style of visual storytelling. His passion for photographing the human condition was inspired by studying the photographs of Gordon Parks and other Depression-era Farm Security Administration photographers. A major influence on Freeman’s many long-term documentary projects was Roy DeCarava, who documented New York’s Harlem Renaissance of the late 1940s-1950s.
* ROLAND L. FREEMAN – PORTFOLIO - Ogden Museum of Southern Art
NOTE--This informational blog is compiled by (with the exception of the introduction and photograph) and reprinted with permission from Abdul Akalimat, PhD
Bio
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roland_Freeman
https://www.arts.gov/honors/heritage/roland-freeman
https://www.washingtonpost.com/obituaries/2023/08/16/roland-freeman-photograher-black-dies/
Photographs
https://ogdenmuseum.org/exhibition/roland-l-freeman-portfolio/
https://www.google.com/search?q=roland+freeman+photography&client=firefox-b-1-e&sca_esv=559959589&tbm=isch&source=lnms&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwjDn8fklPiAAxVYKDQIHc9DBeMQ0pQJegQIAxAE&biw=896&bih=415&dpr=2.14
He discusses his work (film)
https://www.c-span.org/video/?525885-1/southern-folk-art-photographer-roland-freeman
https://www.npr.org/sections/pictureshow/2018/06/15/617364245/in-1968-poor-americans-came-to-d-c-to-protest-some-by-mule
His books
https://www.google.com/books/edition/The_Mule_Train/NF8CAAAACAAJ?hl=en
https://www.amazon.com/Communion-Spirits-African-American-Quilters-Preservers/dp/1558534253
https://www.amazon.com/Arabbers-Baltimore-Roland-L-Freeman/dp/0870333976
https://www.amazon.com/Margaret-Walkers-My-People-Tribute/dp/0878056130/?_encoding=UTF8&pd_rd_w=5qSZb&content-id=amzn1.sym.579192ca-1482-4409-abe7-9e14f17ac827&pf_rd_p=579192ca-1482-4409-abe7-9e14f17ac827&pf_rd_r=142-8133023-2432805&pd_rd_wg=OCNlc&pd_rd_r=bcadf88a-be2b-45ec-8073-da1bf406950f&ref_=aufs_ap_sc_dsk
https://www.amazon.com/Southern-Roads-City-Pavements-Photographs/dp/0933642040/?_encoding=UTF8&pd_rd_w=5qSZb&content-id=amzn1.sym.579192ca-1482-4409-abe7-9e14f17ac827&pf_rd_p=579192ca-1482-4409-abe7-9e14f17ac827&pf_rd_r=142-8133023-2432805&pd_rd_wg=OCNlc&pd_rd_r=bcadf88a-be2b-45ec-8073-da1bf406950f&ref_=aufs_ap_sc_dsk
https://www.amazon.com/Something-keep-you-warm-Mississippi/dp/0938896318/?_encoding=UTF8&pd_rd_w=5qSZb&content-id=amzn1.sym.579192ca-1482-4409-abe7-9e14f17ac827&pf_rd_p=579192ca-1482-4409-abe7-9e14f17ac827&pf_rd_r=142-8133023-2432805&pd_rd_wg=OCNlc&pd_rd_r=bcadf88a-be2b-45ec-8073-da1bf406950f&ref_=aufs_ap_sc_dsk
Interview
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LtGrYnP4N_o
http://www.mastersoftraditionalarts.org/artists/105
Quilting
https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=&ved=2ahUKEwifqpLzj_iAAxWttYkEHS0SCakQFnoECBQQAQ&url=https%3A%2F%2Fonlinecampus.fcps.edu%2Fmedia2%2Fenglish%2FFCPS_Current_Courses%2FEnglish_10_Summer_School%2Freferdocs%2FEveryday%2520Use%2520Interview.pdf&usg=AOvVaw2HwFsHDOEjKfjudYzLtrrQ&opi=89978449
Archive
https://library.unc.edu/2023/03/library-acquires-archive-of-roland-l-freeman/
Preview YouTube video Curated Conversation with Roland L. Freeman (Part I)📷📷
Curated Conversation with Roland L. Freeman (Part I)