# Roland Freeman

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**Roland L. Freeman** (July 27, 1936 – August 7, 2023) was an American photographer and documenter of [Southern](/source/Southern_United_States) [folk culture](/source/Folklore) and African-American [quilters](/source/Quilting).[1] He was the president of The Group for Cultural Documentation, founded in 1991 and based in [Washington, D.C.](/source/Washington,_D.C.)[2]

## Early life

Roland L. Freeman was born in [Baltimore, Maryland](/source/Baltimore,_Maryland), on July 27, 1936. As a youth, his future life's work was inspired when he discovered [the Depression](/source/The_Depression)-era photography of [Gordon Parks](/source/Gordon_Parks) and [Roy DeCarava](/source/Roy_DeCarava), which focused on raising social consciousness, as well as the work of [Farm Security Administration](/source/Farm_Security_Administration) photographers. When Freeman was 14, he met author and folklorist [Zora Neale Hurston](/source/Zora_Neale_Hurston), who would also be a great influence on his subsequent career.[3]

Freeman served in the [US Air Force](/source/United_States_Air_Force) from 1954 to 1958.[4] He began taking photographs in the Washington, D.C. area in 1963, inspired by the [March on Washington](/source/March_on_Washington).[3]

## Career as photodocumentarian

In 1968, he not only participated in but also documented the [Poor People's Campaign](/source/Poor_People's_Campaign) and the Mule Train[5] trip from [Marks, Mississippi](/source/Marks,_Mississippi), to the nation's capital.[3]

Freeman worked as a stringer for *[Time](/source/Time_magazine)* and [Magnum Photos](/source/Magnum_Photos), including coverage as a [White House](/source/White_House) photographer.[3] In 1997, Freeman was named the [Eudora Welty](/source/Eudora_Welty) Visiting Professor of [Southern Studies](/source/Southern_Studios) at [Millsaps College](/source/Millsaps_College) in [Jackson, Mississippi](/source/Jackson,_Mississippi).[6]

In 1970, he co-directed the Mississippi FolkLife Project for the [Smithsonian Institution](/source/Smithsonian_Institution)'s Center for Folklife and Cultural Heritage. In 1972, he became a research associate there.

In that capacity, Freeman photographed staff at the White House, including Mrs. [Lillian Rogers Parks](/source/Lillian_Rogers_Parks), who worked there for 30 years. Several of Freeman's photographs of African Americans at the White House were included in official White House webpages[7] and in a Smithsonian Institution exhibition.[8]

Freeman retained close ties to his hometown of Baltimore, a frequent subject of his work. *The Arabbers of Baltimore*, published in 1989, documents the work of fruit and vegetable vendors and their horse drawn carts, including Freeman's uncle.[9] He also led the Jonestown Community Photo Documentation Project from 1994-1996. Sponsored by the Baltimore City Life Museum, Freeman trained 19 children how to use cameras and develop their own film; the children documented their families, their lives, and their neighborhood of [Jonestown](/source/Jonestown,_Baltimore), Baltimore.[10]

Freeman's work was included in the 2025 exhibition *Photography and the [Black Arts Movement](/source/Black_Arts_Movement), 1955–1985* at the [National Gallery of Art](/source/National_Gallery_of_Art). [11]

### "While There is Still Time"

Freeman worked for years on a self-assigned project "While There Is Still Time," a study of Black culture throughout the [African Diaspora](/source/African_Diaspora). He used the camera as a tool to research, document and interpret the continuity of traditional African-American folklife practices. This work is generally done in close collaboration with folklorists, historians, [sociologists](/source/Sociology) and [community activists](/source/Activism), often in methodologically innovative ways that have been integral to his contributions to the work of photographers of his generation.[12]

## Influence on American quilt history

Freeman spent more than 20 years photographing African-American quilters and guilds. He collected biographic information about the quilters' lives and their motivations for quiltmaking. He also documented collectors of African-American-made quilts.

*A Communion of the Spirits* was a landmark American quilt history book, as no one else prior to Freeman had performed a national survey of Black quilters. The book covered 38 states and the District of Columbia. Quilt guilds documented in *A Communion of the Spirits* include: The African American Quilters of Baltimore, the [Freedom Quilting Bee](/source/Freedom_Quilting_Bee) of Alberta, Alabama, the African American Quilters of Los Angeles, and more. Quilt collectors included [Nikki Giovanni](/source/Nikki_Giovanni), [Maya Angelou](/source/Maya_Angelou), and [Beverly Guy-Sheftall](/source/Beverly_Guy-Sheftall).

An exhibit of Freeman's quilt photographs are in the permanent collection of the Smith Robertson Museum in [Jackson, Mississippi](/source/Jackson,_Mississippi).

In 2008, he organized a quilt exhibition at the [Historical Society of Washington, D.C.](/source/Historical_Society_of_Washington,_D.C.) to celebrate the inauguration of [President Obama](/source/Barack_Obama). The exhibit was supposed to run from January 11 to January 31, 2009, but it was extended until July 2009.[13][14]

## Death

Freeman died at his home in Washington, D.C., on August 7, 2023, at the age of 87.[9]

## Published works

### Books

- *Folkroots: Images of Mississippi Black Folklife, 1974–1976* (1977)[15]
- *Roland L. Freeman, a Baltimore Portfolio, 1968–1979* (1979)[16]
- *Southern Roads/City Pavements: Photographs of Black Americans* (1981)[17]
- *The Arabbers of Baltimore* (1989)[18]
- *Margaret Walker's 'For My People': A Tribute* (1992)[19]
- *A Communion of the Spirits: African-American Quilters, Preservers, and Their Stories* (1996)[20]
- *The Mule Train: A Journey of Hope Remembered* (1998)[21]
- *A Tribute to Worth Long* (2006)[22]

### Exhibition catalogs

- *City Pavements, Country Roads* (1978, [Antioch University](/source/Antioch_University))[23]
- *Something to Keep You Warm* (1981, Mississippi State Historical Museum)[24]
- *More Than Just Something to Keep You Warm* (1988, [Bergen Museum of Art & Science](/source/Bergen_Museum_of_Art_%26_Science))[25]
- *Stand By Me: African American Expressive Culture in Philadelphia*, (1989, [Smithsonian Institution](/source/Smithsonian_Institution), [Office of Folklife Programs](/source/Center_for_Folklife_and_Cultural_Heritage))[26]
- *Some Thing of Value: Images of African and African-American Folklife* (1992, [APEX Museum](/source/APEX_Museum))[27]
- *Journey of the Spirit: the Art of Gwendolyn A. Magee* (2004, [Mississippi Museum of Art](/source/Mississippi_Museum_of_Art))[28]

### Contributions

- *Piney Woods School: an Oral History* (1982)[29]
- *Inside Out: Photographs from Lorton* (1986)[30]
- *Drawing Our Worlds Together* (1998)[31]
- *Fire In My Bones* (2000)[32]

## Awards and honors

- In 1970, Freeman became the first photographer to be awarded a Young Humanist Fellowship by the [National Endowment for the Humanities](/source/National_Endowment_for_the_Humanities).[5]
- He has received two Masters of Photography Visual Arts Fellowships from the [National Endowment for the Arts](/source/National_Endowment_for_the_Arts), one in 1982 and another in 1991.
- He received the Living Legend Award for Distinguished Achievement in Photography from the [National Black Arts Festival](/source/National_Black_Arts_Festival) in 1994.[5]
- In 1997, he received an Honorary Doctorate in Humane Letters from [Millsaps College](/source/Millsaps_College).
- In 2001, the book *Fire In My Bones*, to which Freeman contributed the photographs, earned the Chicago Folklore Prize, an annual award which represents the most outstanding book in folklore.[33]
- He was a recipient of a 2007 [National Heritage Fellowship](/source/National_Heritage_Fellowship) awarded by the [NEA](/source/National_Endowment_for_the_Arts), which is the United States government's highest honor in the folk and traditional arts.[34][1]

## Collections

The Roland L. Freeman Collection was acquired in 2023 by the Wilson Special Collections Library at the [University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill](/source/University_of_North_Carolina_at_Chapel_Hill). The collection, a gift from the [Kohler Foundation](/source/Kohler_Foundation), is part of the Southern Folklife Collection and consists of Freeman's papers, nearly 24,000 slides, 10,000 photographic prints, 400,000 negatives and 9,000 contact sheets.[35]

Also in 2023, the [Mississippi Museum of Art](/source/Mississippi_Museum_of_Art) in Jackson acquired 131 quilts collected by Roland Freeman illustrating quilt-making by African-American women, many from Southern American communities, from Liberia and South Africa. The quilt collection was a gift from the Kohler Foundation.[36][37]

In 1991, the [Smithsonian American Art Museum](/source/Smithsonian_American_Art_Museum) acquired ten black and white prints by Roland L. Freeman as a gift from George H. Dalsheimer.[38]

Roland Freeman’s African American Expressive Culture in Philadelphia Project is housed at the Library of Congress Prints & Photographs Division and includes 737 enlarged contact sheets full of images of African-American everyday life in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, in the late 1980s.[39][40]

## References

1. ["National Endowment for the Arts Statement on the Death of National Heritage Fellow Roland Freeman"](https://www.publicnow.com/view/8F45C0BC20E9B16E6D40F2C266585585436F241F?1692136074). *Public Now*. 15 August 2023. Retrieved 16 August 2023.

1. ["What We Do"](https://www.tgcd.org/tgcd.cfm?a=wh&wh_a=his). *The Group for Cultural Documentation*. Retrieved 29 March 2024.

1. ["Roland Freeman: Photo Documentarian, Author, and Exhibit Curator"](https://arts.gov/honors/heritage/roland-freeman). *www.arts.gov*. National Endowment for the Arts. n.d. Retrieved January 10, 2021.

1. Riggs, Thomas (ed.) (1997). *St. James Guide to Black Artists*. Detroit, Michigan: St. James Press in association with the [Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture](/source/Schomburg_Center_for_Research_in_Black_Culture). pp. 201–202. ISBN 9781558622203. LCCN 97-3068. [OCLC 36470125](https://www.worldcat.org/oclc/36470125)

1. ["Photographer Roland Freeman is keynote speaker April 9"](http://asunews.astate.edu/InsideASU040710.htm). *Inside ASU*. April 7, 2010. Retrieved January 12, 2021.

1. Ramsey, Bets (March 20, 1997). "Freeman exhibit to travel". *Chattanooga Times Free Press*. p. D6.

1. ["A Working Family"](https://web.archive.org/web/20091004150641/http://www.whitehousehistory.org/whha_exhibits/working_whitehouse/d3_working-family.html). *The Working White House*. WHHA Exhibits. n.d. Archived from [the original](http://www.whitehousehistory.org/whha_exhibits/working_whitehouse/d3_working-family.html) on October 4, 2009. Retrieved January 12, 2021.

1. ["White House Working Family"](https://web.archive.org/web/20060822065336/http://www.sites.si.edu/exhibitions/exhibits/white_house_workers/main.htm). *Smithsonian Institution Traveling Exhibition Service*. n.d. Archived from [the original](http://www.sites.si.edu/exhibitions/exhibits/white_house_workers/main.htm) on August 22, 2006. Retrieved January 12, 2021.

1. Murphy, Brian (August 17, 2023). ["Roland L. Freeman, whose photos chronicled Black life, dies at 87"](https://www.washingtonpost.com/obituaries/2023/08/16/roland-freeman-photograher-black-dies/). *[The Washington Post](/source/The_Washington_Post)*. Retrieved August 16, 2023.

1. ["Biographical / Historical"](https://mdhistory.libraryhost.com/repositories/2/resources/923). *Jonestown Community Photo Documentation Project Collection*. Maryland Center for History and Culture. Retrieved 29 March 2024.

1. Brookman, Philip & Willis, Deborah (2025). *Photography and the Black Arts Movement, 1955-1985*. New Haven London: Yale University Press. p. 255. ISBN 9780300283501.

1. ["Roland L. Freeman"](http://www.tgcd.org/tgcd.cfm?a=rf). *The Group for Cultural Documentation*. 2002. Retrieved January 12, 2021.

1. ["Beltway Happenings"](http://www.gwu.edu/~action/2008/photos09/quiltsphoto.html). *George Washington University*. January 21, 2009. Retrieved January 12, 2021.

1. ["Quilts for Obama: An Exhibit Celebrating the Inauguration of Our 44th President"](http://www.gwu.edu/~action/2008/chrninau08/quiltsforobama.html). *George Washington University*. n.d. Retrieved January 12, 2021.

1. Freeman, Roland (1977). *Folkroots: Images of Mississippi Black Folklife (1974–1976)*. Jackson, Mississippi: Mississippi Department of Archives and History. [OCLC 4014482](https://www.worldcat.org/oclc/4014482)

1. Freeman, Roland L. (1979). *Roland L. Freeman, a Baltimore Portfolio, 1968–1979: A Black Photographer Looks At His Hometown*. Catonsville, Maryland: University of Maryland Baltimore County Library. LCCN 79-64296. [OCLC 6916224](https://www.worldcat.org/oclc/6916224)

1. Freeman, Roland L. (1981). *Southern Roads/City Pavements: Photographs of Black Americans*. New York: International Center of Photography. ISBN 9780933642041. LCCN 81-80577. [OCLC 7776297](https://www.worldcat.org/oclc/7776297)

1. Freeman, Roland L. (1989). *The Arabbers of Baltimore*. 1st ed. Centreville, Maryland: Tidewater Publishers. ISBN 9780870333972. LCCN 88-40561. [OCLC 19353600](https://www.worldcat.org/oclc/19353600)

1. Walker, Margaret (1992). [*Margaret Walker's 'For My People': A Tribute*](https://openlibrary.org/books/OL1724786M/Margaret_Walker's_For_my_people). Jackson, Mississippi: University Press of Mississippi. ISBN 9780878056132. LCCN 92-28492. [OCLC 26353197](https://www.worldcat.org/oclc/26353197)

1. Freeman, Roland L. (1996). [*A Communion of the Spirits: African-American Quilters, Preservers, and Their Stories*](https://openlibrary.org/works/OL1898677W/A_communion_of_the_spirits?edition=communionofspiri00free). Nashville, Tennessee: Rutledge Hill Press. ISBN 9781558534254. LCCN 96-26202. [OCLC 34943313](https://www.worldcat.org/oclc/34943313)

1. Freeman, Roland L. (1998). *The Mule Train: A Journey of Hope Remembered*. Levine, David B. (ed.). Nashville, Tennessee: Rutledge Hill Press. ISBN 9781558536609. LCCN 98-23252. [OCLC 39157624](https://www.worldcat.org/oclc/39157624)

1. Freeman, Roland L. (2006). *A Tribute to Worth Long: Still on the Case, a Pioneer's Continuing Commitment*. Washington, D.C.: Smithsonian Center for Folklife and Cultural Heritage; Group for Cultural Documentation. LCCN 2013-432360. [OCLC 183190495](https://www.worldcat.org/oclc/183190495)

1. Freeman, Roland L. (1977). *City Pavements, Country Roads*. Philadelphia, Pennsylvania: Antioch University. LCCN 78-53508. [OCLC 5128697](https://www.worldcat.org/oclc/5128697)

1. Freeman, Roland L. (1981). *Something to Keep You Warm: the Roland Freeman Collection of Black American quilts from the Mississippi Heartland*. Jackson, Mississippi: Department of Archives and History, Mississippi State Historical Museum. ISBN 9780938896319. LCCN 81-620010. [OCLC 8452156](https://www.worldcat.org/oclc/8452156)

1. Perry, Regenia A. & Freeman, Roland L. (1988). *More Than Just Something to Keep You Warm: The Afro-American Folk Art Tradition*. Paramus, New Jersey: Bergen Museum of Art and Science. [OCLC 181349505](https://www.worldcat.org/oclc/181349505)

1. Freeman, Roland (1989). *Stand By Me: African American Expressive Culture in Philadelphia*. Washington, D.C.: Smithsonian Institution, Office of Folklife Programs. LCCN 90-119086. [OCLC 21153880](https://www.worldcat.org/oclc/21153880)

1. Freeman, Roland L. (1992). *Some Thing of Value: Images of African and African-American Folklife*. Atlanta, Georgia: APEX Museum. [OCLC 52473903](https://www.worldcat.org/oclc/52473903)

1. Barilleaux, René Paul (ed.) (2004). *Journey of the Spirit: the Art of Gwendolyn A. Magee*. Jackson, Mississippi: Mississippi Museum of Art. ISBN 9781887422093. LCCN 2004-55923. [OCLC 55947973](https://www.worldcat.org/oclc/55947973)

1. Harrison, Alferdteen (1982). *Piney Woods School: an Oral History*. Print-on-demand ed. Jackson, Mississippi: University Press of Mississippi. ISBN 9781578068760. LCCN 82-11150. [OCLC 769850593](https://www.worldcat.org/oclc/769850593)

1. Ruckman, Karen (1986). *Inside Out: Photographs from Lorton*. Washington, D.C.: Lorton Photography Workshop. [OCLC 79153880](https://www.worldcat.org/oclc/79153880)

1. Plotkin, Joel (1998). *Drawing Our Worlds Together: an Overview of the Young Person's Cultural Exchange Program and a Gallery of Artwork from the Exhibits*. Washington, D.C.: Group for Cultural Documentation. [OCLC 57398896](https://www.worldcat.org/oclc/57398896)

1. Hinson, Glenn (2000). *Fire In My Bones: Transcendence and the Holy Spirit in African American Gospel*. Philadelphia, Pennsylvania: University of Pennsylvania Press. ISBN 9780812235289. [OCLC 247143942](https://www.worldcat.org/oclc/247143942)

1. "Folklorist wins international book prize". *The Chapel Hill News*. February 11, 2001. p. A7.

1. ["NEA National Heritage Fellowships 2007"](https://web.archive.org/web/20200521114719/https://www.arts.gov/honors/heritage/year/2007). *arts.gov*. National Endowment for the Arts. Archived from [the original](https://www.arts.gov/honors/heritage/year/2007) on May 21, 2020. Retrieved January 9, 2021.

1. ["Library acquires archive of Roland L. Freeman, photographer of Black life in Southern U.S. | UNC-Chapel Hill"](https://www.unc.edu/posts/2023/03/20/library-acquires-archive-of-roland-l-freeman-photographer-of-black-life-in-southern-u-s/). *The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill*. 20 March 2023. Retrieved 10 August 2023.

1. Velie, Elaine (16 March 2023). ["A Photographer's Love Affair With Black Southern Quilt-Making"](https://hyperallergic.com/808099/a-photographers-love-affair-with-black-southern-quilt-making/). *Hyperallergic*. Retrieved 10 August 2023.

1. ["Mississippi Museum of Art Announces Acquisition of Major Collection of Quilts"](http://www.artfixdaily.com/artwire/release/4508-mississippi-museum-of-art-announces-acquisition-of-major-collecti). *ArtfixDaily*. Retrieved 10 August 2023.

1. [[https://americanart.si.edu/search/artworks?content_type=artwork&persons](https://americanart.si.edu/search/artworks?content_type=artwork&persons)[]=6670 "Roland Freeman Artworks | Smithsonian American Art Museum and Renwick Gallery"]. *americanart.si.edu*. Retrieved 10 August 2023.

1. Orbach Natanson, Barbara (28 August 2020). ["Reflecting on Roland Freeman's African American Expressive Culture in Philadelphia Project | Picture This"](https://blogs.loc.gov/picturethis/2020/08/reflecting-on-roland-freemans-african-american-expressive-culture-in-philadelphia-project/). *The Library of Congress*. Retrieved 13 August 2023.

1. [""Freeman, Roland L., 1936-" - Prints & Photographs Online Catalog (Library of Congress)"](https://www.loc.gov/pictures/related/?fi=name&q=Freeman%2C%20Roland%20L.%2C%201936-). *www.loc.gov*. Retrieved 13 August 2023.

## External links

- [African American Quilters of Baltimore](http://aaqb.org/)
- [The Group for Cultural Documentation](https://www.tgcd.org/)
- [African American Visual Artists Database: Roland L. Freeman](http://aavad.com/artistbibliog.cfm?id=98)
- [World Catalog: Works by or about Roland L. Freeman](http://worldcat.org/identities/lccn-n80-110215)
- [Black Threads Blog: Roland Freeman](https://blackthreads.blogspot.com/search/label/roland%20freeman)
- [Roland Freeman](https://www.imdb.com/name/nm10823027/) at IMDb
- [Roland L. Freeman Photograph Collection, circa 1963-2006](https://finding-aids.lib.unc.edu/70147/) at [University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill](/source/University_of_North_Carolina_at_Chapel_Hill)

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Adapted from the Wikipedia article [Roland Freeman](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roland_Freeman) by Wikipedia contributors ([contributor history](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roland_Freeman?action=history)). Available under [Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/). Changes may have been made.