In many ways, folklorist and photographer Roland L. Freeman (1936–2023) began his life’s work in Mississippi. In 1968 he traveled to Marks, Mississippi to photograph The Poor People’s Campaign’s historic Mule Train as it traveled to Washington, D.C. In the 1970s, Freeman returned to the state, using “the camera as a tool” to research and document African American folklife practices. For Freeman, this research was deeply interpersonal and collaborative.
Fifty years ago, the Smithsonian Institution showcased Mississippi makers at the 1974 Festival of American Folklife on the National Mall. In preparation, Freeman and fellow folklorist Worth Long interviewed and photographed craftspeople throughout the state. This work fed into Freeman’s decades-long study of quiltmaking traditions—a key element of MMA’s concurrent exhibition, Of Salt and Spirit: Black Quilters in the American South, which features quilts from Freeman’s personal collection.
Coinciding with the kickoff of the 2025–2027 National Folk Festival, hosted in Jackson, Roland Freeman and the Camera presents a sampling of Freeman’s work in photography. The exhibition includes works from MMA’s collection as well as archival reproductions from the Roland L. Freeman Photograph Collection, Southern Folklife Collection, Wilson Special Collections Library, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.
About Roland Freeman
Roland L. Freeman (1936-2023) worked as a stringer for Time magazine and Magnum Photos, including a stint as a White House photographer. During Freeman’s travels through the American South and as director of the Mississippi Folklife Project, he began photographing and documenting African-American quilters and guilds. His interest in craft traditions informed his collection long before others took note of this distinctive but little-recognized artistic tradition.
During his life, Freeman amassed more than 120 quilts and created several of his original own designs. In 1979, he published Something to Keep You Warm: The Roland Freeman Collection of Black American Quilts from the Mississippi Heartland, the first book about quilts made by African Americans, and curated the related national touring exhibition, the first of its kind. As Freeman’s appreciation for the milieu grew, his documentation project evolved and expanded. Freeman came to realize quilts were far more than “just something to keep you warm.” A Communion of the Spirits: African American Quilters, Preservers, and Their Stories, his second book published in 1996, Freeman expressed his belief that quilts are magical, stating, “Quilts have the power to create a virtual web of connections—individual, generational, professional, physical, spiritual, cultural, and historical.” In 1997, MMA presented an exhibition accompanying A Communion of the Spirits that toured nationally.
Many of the 131 quilts gifted to MMA were made in Mississippi, Alabama, Tennessee, and other Southern states, as well as international locations such as Liberia and South Africa. Several are by quilters in MMA’s permanent collection, including Annie Dennis, Crossroads Quilters, and Hystercine Rankin. Thirteen of Freeman’s photographs are also in MMA’s permanent collection.
