The Cleveland Museum of Art
Collection Online as of March 25, 2025
In defense of Western Civilization, an American soldier's hand rests on his gun in front of the Berlin Wall, Germany
August 1961
(American, 1929–2006)
Image: 17.2 x 23.2 cm (6 3/4 x 9 1/8 in.); Paper: 17.2 x 23.2 cm (6 3/4 x 9 1/8 in.)
© Leonard Freed /Magnum Photos
Location: not on view
Description
Taking this photograph inspired Freed to return to the United States to commence a multiyear examination of African American life. It introduces his book Black in White America, and is accompanied by this statement: “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 cobblestones, 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.”- Black in America: Louis Draper and Leonard Freed. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (February 26-July 30, 2017).
- {{cite web|title=In defense of Western Civilization, an American soldier's hand rests on his gun in front of the Berlin Wall, Germany|url=false|author=Leonard Freed|year=August 1961|access-date=25 March 2025|publisher=Cleveland Museum of Art}}
Source URL:
https://www.clevelandart.org/art/2016.292