A moment that stood out in bell hook's, "In Our Glory: Photography and Black Life":
The image in this snapshot has lingered in my mind's eye for years. It has lingered there to remind [me] of the power of snapshots, of the image. As I slowly work on a book of essays titled Art on My Mind, I think about the place of art in black life, connections between the social construction of black identity, the impact of raceand class, and the presence in black life of an inarticulate but ever-present visual aesthetic governing our relationship to images, to the process of image making. I return to the snapshot as a starting point to consider the place of the visual in black life--the importance of photography (81).This passage stands out to me because it marks the place in the essay where hooks connects her discussion of her personal story of her father's photograph with larger issues of the role of photography in black life. She breaks down the barriers between the personal and the theoretical, personal writing and academic writing. This is the point that I got even more interested in what she had to say. I think she really hits the nail on the head when she says two paragraphs later: "The history of black liberation movements in the United States could be characterized as a struggle over images as much as it has also been a struggle for rights, for equal access" (81).
I guess I like the directness of her writing and the willingness to take risks and advocate for a position with no apologies.
