Biography Brings Life of Photographer Russell Lee Out of the Shadows, Drawing on Library’s Photography Archive

<p>His photographs are mainstays in popular culture: The <a href="https://www.loc.gov/pictures/resource/fsa.8a26761/">iconic shot</a> of a young Black man drinking from a water cooler marked “colored” was featured in Stephen Colbert’s June 1, 2020, “Late Show” monologue on racial injustice. Millions of “Cheers” viewers saw <a href="https://www.loc.gov/pictures/resource/fsa.8b19903/">his photo of cheerful patrons</a> in a Depression-era Minnesota saloon in the opening credits. Microsoft offered his <a href="https://www.loc.gov/pictures/resource/fsa.8b37079/">1939 photo of a Texas couple</a> as a screensaver in its Windows 98 operating system.</p><p>While Russell Lee’s work is widely known, his story has remained more elusive. A new definitive biography, published by Liveright in association with the Library of Congress, establishes Lee as one of the most influential documentary photographers in American history.</p><p>In “Russell Lee: A Photographer’s Life and Legacy,” historian and archivist Mary Jane Appel

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