In the 1970s, 10-year-old Kenneth Montague visited the Detroit Institute of Arts and came upon an arresting photograph by James Van Der Zee. It was a young couple in Harlem, elegant in matching fur coats. The image was glamorous—aspirational even—yet it was taken in 1932, when lynchings and segregation were still commonplace. Years later, Montague purchased the print, his first acquisition in a wondrous photography collection that now consists of 400 works by the likes of Malick Sidibé and Carrie Mae Weems. “As We Rise” showcases these masterpieces alongside works from photographers in Brazil, Canada, and the Caribbean. —Elena Clavarino