Pitch Black

Pitch Black
The best Black ads of the past 50+ years.

The secret weapon of the Civil Rights movement.

Where can you go to see examples of the best and most successful advertising created for and created by African Americans?
The answer, sadly, is nowhere.

There is no central archive, library or museum where a collection of this great and historic work is accessible or exhibited. Even an extensive digital search will unearth only the smallest, isolated records that require expensive travel to view them in person.

For more than 25 years, the Communications Excellence to Black Audiences (CEBA) Awards recognized and celebrated advertising's very best multicultural marketing work. Black tie events at the New York Hilton with hundreds in attendance. But the CEBA Awards ended in the early 2000's. Remarkably, tragically, there is no publicly available archive or display of all that achievement and excellence. No library of award-winning Black advertising. Invisible. Forgotten.

At a time when the advertising industry is just beginning to recognize and embrace its obligation to diversity, equity and inclusion, we find ourselves adrift with no link to our past. We find ourselves without any connection to our history, no record of the best work ever done in our industry. Esteemed poet, Sonia Sanchez once said, "A people without a thorough knowledge of roots and history cannot move into the future, cannot rest in the proper chair of life."

It's time to correct that.

With words and pictures, this book reveals how advertising created by Black people and for Black people became one of the most effective tools and weapons of the Civil Rights movement, changing the world's perception of Black America. Advertising enabled America to get to know Black people in ways that would have been impossible otherwise.

Today, we are masters of culture and art and commerce. Today, there is no pop culture without Black people. And there is no commerce without pop culture. But it has been a long journey. How we got here is the story of Blacks in advertising of the past fifty years.

Pitch Black is a beautiful "coffee table" book, and a historical presentation of the best and most successful advertising created for and created by African Americans. It is a remarkable collection that cannot be found in any other book, library, or museum. The advertising images and messages contained in this book chronicle a previously unrecorded chapter of the history of American business, fashion and culture. They reveal how Black identity, in all its freshness and different beauty, turned Blackness into a brand that America wanted to buy.

The book is well-documented and supported by professional researchers and an advisory panel of some of the top African American creative directors in the business. Although the book will be a valuable and sought-after resource for both academics and professionals, it is written with the popular reader in mind.

Interspersed between chapters of historical narration, the book showcases the advertising images for each of the five decades of the past 50 years. These advertising images have been hand-selected by a panel of the top Black creative directors in the advertising business. Each ad includes a brief caption, written by the creative director, explaining why the ad was chosen.

Invaluable reference tool. Cherished keepsake. Testament.