Apartheid Through the Eyes of One of South Africa’s First Black Photojournalists

In the mid-1960s, photojournalist Ernest Cole undertook a dangerous mission—to produce a volume of photographs that would reveal to the world the excruciating realities of life under apartheid. The result was the groundbreaking book House of Bondage: A South African Black Man Exposes in His Own Pictures and Words the Bitter Life of His Homeland Today, published in 1967 with an introduction by Joseph Lelyveld. Lelyveld discusses Cole’s work and legacy and the upcoming exhibition "Ernest Cole: Photographer” at NYU’s Grey Art Gallery. It is on view through December 6.

“Earnest boy squats on haunches and strains to follow lesson in heat of packed classroom.” —House of Bondage, 1967

(© The Ernest Cole Family Trust. Courtesy the Hasselblad Foundation)

According to musician Julian Bahula, a childhood friend of Cole’s, the law forbade photography of people being handcuffed by the police.

“Handcuffed blacks were arrested for being in white areas illegally.”—House of Bondage, 1967

(© The Ernest Cole Family Trust. Courtesy the Hasselblad Foundation)

“Pensive tribesmen, newly recruited to mine labor, awaiting processing and assignment.” —House of Bondage, 1967

(© The Ernest Cole Family Trust. Courtesy the Hasselblad Foundation)

Struan Robertson and others report that Johannesburg city benches were inscribed for whites only. There were no “blacks only” benches in Johannesburg; blacks sat on the curbstones.

(© The Ernest Cole Family Trust. Courtesy the Hasselblad Foundation)