"Here, collected for the first time, are Willis' one-of-a kind photo quilts, her personal photo essays, and her critical essays about the vital contribution African American photographers made and continue to make to the advancement of photography in this country. Willis shows that not only did photographers like J. P. Ball and Gordon Parks advance the techniques of the medium, but through their work documenting the lives of blacks in America they changed the way blacks were portrayed - and so thought of - in this country. For anybody interested in photography, black history, or personal expression, this book is important. For anyone interested in all three, Family History Memory is essential."--BOOK JACKET.