01 / 05

Once, 40 Acres and a Mule

A US law adopted in January 1865 promised all emancipated slaves "40 acres and a mule" - 40 acres of land to be cultivated, and a mule with which to drag a plough. When Andrew Johnson became President of the United States in April of the same year, following the assassination of Abraham Lincoln, he refused to enact it. Because of the symbolic strength of the phrase, Barack Obama only needed to make a quick reference to it in his speech in front of the democratic convention that celebrated the 45th anniversary of the speech of Dr. Martin Luther King. In the same speech whilst not directly mentioning the "dream", it was clear for the majority of spectators that Obama was poised to make a monumemtal step toward its realization.

Magnum photographers have documented different aspects of the lives of African-Americans and their struggle in the twentieth century to define their place in the USA.

Featuring work by Leonard Freed, Eli Reed, Burt Glinn, Eve Arnold, Wayne Miller, Paul Fusco and Costa Manos.