'The Radical Camera,' a History of the Photo League, Opens at the Jewish Museum

Sixty years ago this week, the Photo League fell victim to Cold War witch hunts and blacklists, closing its doors after 15 intense years of trailblazing – and sometimes hell-raising – documentary photography.  From unabashedly leftist roots, the group influenced a generation of photographers who transformed the documentary tradition, elevating it to heady aesthetic heights.

Yet with the accusations leveled against the group and Sid Grossman, one of its founders and legendary teachers, the narrative, such as it is known, was a flawed tale.