The Unseen Truth: When Race Changed Sight in America
Vision & Justice: How We Teach the Truth
Dear Friends,
It’s been just over a week since The Unseen Truth: When Race Changed Sight in America was published and I’m so grateful for the immense support that it has received. From a launch event at the Ford Foundation with the incredible Sherrilyn Ifill and Darren Walker to conversations with Imani Perry, Franklin Leonard, and Ibram X. Kendi, it’s been a joy to share this work — ten years in the making — with so many of you.
Thank you for picking up a copy, for sharing it with your family and friends, and for being a part of its release. Here’s to the upcoming events, and more!
The Unseen Truth
Was America's racial divide built on a lie?
The Unseen Truth: When Race Changed Sight in America uncovers the pivotal moment when Americans came to ignore the truth about the false foundations of the nation’s racial regime. The surprising catalyst occurred in the nineteenth century when the Caucasian War—the fight for independence in the Caucasus that coincided with the end of the U.S. Civil War—revealed the instability of the entire regime of racial domination. In a masterpiece of historical detective work, the book exposes one of the most damaging lies in American history.
Book Tour
I had a wonderful event with Ibram X. Kendi at Politics & Prose in Washington, D.C. on Wednesday, and will be back in New York City next week for MoMA’s Forum on Contemporary Photography: Democracy, Race, and the Power of Images. We’ll discuss The Unseen Truth and the first publication of the Vision & Justice Book Series, Race Stories, by the one and only Maurice Berger. This event is now sold out — I’m so moved by how many of you will be there to celebrate with us.
And, if you missed my conversation with Sherrilyn Ifill and Darren Walker, here’s a short clip of our time together at the Ford Foundation.
Latest News for The Unseen Truth
I had the pleasure of speaking with Brooke Hauser at The Boston Globe about The Unseen Truth. In the profile, she features not only the book, but my class at Harvard, and the work of visual representation in art and culture. In print this weekend!
“The idea of race is like a photograph without a negative…”
I was honored to sit down with Eileen O’Grady at the Harvard Gazette to speak about The Unseen Truth. Our conversation is out now, and spans my time in the archive, what it meant to write this book, and how race changed how we see.
Thank you for reading.
Warmly,
Sarah