Deborah Willis is a University Professor and chair of the department of photography and imaging at the Tisch School of the Arts at New York University. She will be presented with an American Book Award from the Before Columbus Foundation on September 28 at a ceremony on the campus of the University of California, Berkeley.
Dr. Willis will be honored for her book Reflections in Black: A History of Black Photographers: 1840 to the Present (Liveright, 2025). The book was first published 25 years ago but has been updated with new photographs.
Dr. Willis is also the author of Black Venus 2010: They Called Her “Hottentot” (Temple University Press, 2010). In 2024, she was inducted into the American Philosophical Society.
Dr. Willis is a graduate of the Philadelphia College of Art. She holds a master’s degree from the City University of New York, a master of fine arts degree from the Pratt Institute, and a Ph.D. from George Mason University in Virginia.
