Leonard Freed West Germany. West Berlin. 1961. American soldiers stand guard as communist East Berlin puts up the wall. Checkpoint Charlie.
“‘In defense of Western Civilization, an American soldier's hand rest
(...) s on his gun. We, he and I, two Americans. We meet silently and part silently. Between us, impregnable and as deadly as the wall behind him, is another wall. It is there on the trolley tracks, it crawls along the cobble stones, across frontiers and oceans, reaching back home, back into our lives and deep into our hearts: dividing us, wherever we meet. I am White and he is Black.’
Questioning his photograph, Leonard returned home to America in 1963, for the first time in seven years. He was intent to photograph and understand what segregates a people who call themselves Americans. He created the photo essay book Black in White America, using this image of the American soldier and the text above as his introduction. Recently, this image was placed in the Checkpoint Charlie Museum in Berlin. It can also be seen projected on a wall of the newly opened National Museum of African American History and Culture in Washington D.C.”
– Elke Susannah Freed, daughter of Leonard Freed © Leonard Freed | Magnum Photos
